Phantasm Dragon Emperor
by Shini Kurogane
Summary: In another universe, he was just a normal human, if not heavily perverted, that somehow was reincarnated as a devil due to circumstances. Here, he was the son of a being that was supposed to be dead. In him lied two great powers that was unseen since the era of Great War. This is the story of the second coming of the Morning Star, the Phantasm Dragon Emperor. Issei x Fem!Vali.
1. Prologue

_So..., this is a story that I somehow managed to write in my spare time as I was getting writer-blocked in writing my original story at fictionpress. It somehow managed to become a full fledged story that has reached Phenex arc as of now. I don't really know if it's good or not, but I just decided to post this since Season 4 is coming soon. So, yeah, here it is. Happy Reading._

* * *

Phantasm Dragon Emperor

Prologue

"Ugh, now that Rin is gone, what should I do?" a young boy said as he walked through the park.

The boy seemed to be around 6 or 7 years in appearance. He had spiky dark hair with some white strands, an evidence of his foreign blood. The same could also be said about his skin, which was somewhere between light tan and pale white, and his eyes, with yellow eye on the left and black one on the right, showed that he had a rare case of heterochromia, probably also caused by his foreign heritage. While he was still youthful in appearance, it could be seen that he had already surpassed the children of his age with his height at 4 feet and 6 inches, dwarfing the rest of the children that were playing at the park.

"Why does he have to go to Europe anyway? Now I have no one to play with. I want to play with the other kids, but they say that I'm too tall to play with them and that I'd cheat since I'm too tall. I need to find someone else to replace Rin, but how can I do that?" the boy said, depressed.

As he wandered aimlessly through the park though, he suddenly came across a peculiar sight on one of the benches at the small park. A young girl, probably around his age from her appearance, give or take a few months, was currently fidgeting on the bench while looking like she was really scared about something but also anticipating it.

Although he was still just a kid, the boy was mesmerized by what he had seen. Long white silver hair that reached her waist, clear sky-blue eyes, pale white skin, along with a white dress with black frills that reached just below her knees, all of them accentuated her foreign yet elegant, strange yet breathtakingly beautiful atmosphere around her.

Now, he was clearly not an expert in this kind of thing, evident from his age, but he had at least asked his father this one time about why he married his mother.

* * *

 _"Dad, why did you marry Mom? I mean, not that Mom isn't pretty or anything, but I'm just curious," the boy asked his father._

 _"Curious, huh. Hahahaha, I guess that should be common for kids your age, right? Hahahaha, alright, come here," the father said as he motioned towards his lap. Following his father's instruction, he sat down._

 _"Now, look in the kitchen. What do you see?" the father said._

 _"Um, I see Mom cooking dinner for us," the boy answered, unsure of what his father's intent might be._

 _"What else?"_

 _"Uh, she's smiling, and she's humming that song that she always sings when I'm going to sleep, and, and she also seems to be really happy," the child answered enthusiastically._

 _"Hmm, what about her eyes, Issei?" the father said addressing him directly._

 _"Her eyes?" Issei said while tilting his head, confused._

 _"Um, Mom's eyes look really pretty, and warm, and kind, and, and, and there is also this kind of calm feeling when I look into Mom's eyes, and somehow I know that tomorrow will be better than today," Issei answered._

 _The father smiled after hearing Issei's answer._

 _"You see, Issei. That's why I married your mother. Because she told me, taught me, that life isn't only filled with fighting, battles, and war. That even with my bloody past, past is only history, today is a present, while future, is like the mystery gift that you receive every weekend at that restaurant," the father said, eliciting a laugh from Issei since he clearly knew what his father's talking about near the end. About the bloody thing and all of that, Issei didn't give any thought since he didn't understand it._

 _"Is that why you love Mom, Dad?" Issei innocently asked._

 _"Yes, that's why I love your mother very dearly, a lot more than anything else in this world. But that doesn't mean that I don't love you, Issei. I love you very much. After all you're the proof of our love, and also our beloved child."_

 _"Hehehe, thank you, Dad. Right then, I promise, that when I grow up I'll find a girl like Mom, so that I'll also be as happy as Dad is!" Issei said out loud._

 _"Hahahaha, look forward to it, kiddo, hahahaha," the father laughed in reply._

* * *

Back to the present, Issei was still staring at the girl. Looking again at the girl's eyes, he noticed that the scared sky-blue orbs had the same kind of atmosphere that his mother had. Although right now it was being hidden behind fear and apprehension, he knew that behind it all lied the same warmness and kindness that he had seen in his mother.

Resolving himself, he decided right then that he wanted to make the girl smile, no matter what. He then started to walk towards the girl slowly, so he wouldn't startle the girl.

"H-hey, I've never seen you around here. What's your name?" Issei asked awkwardly.

"H-huh? Ah! Um, I-I, um, my name is," the girl stuttered.

"Ah, sorry, it must be rude of me to not introduce myself first. U-um, my name is Hyoudou-Dubh Issei. Nice to meet you," Issei introduced himself, albeit still a bit awkward.

"O-oh, um, m-my name is Valiana Lu-, eh, L. Cifer. Nice to meet you too," the girl, Valiana, said. If Issei noticed that Valiana suddenly changed what she wanted to say, he didn't say anything about it.

"Hey, do you want to play tag with the other kids?" Issei offered.

"E-eh?" Valiana said confused.

"C'mon, just come with me already. It will be fun, I promise," Issei said while pulling her hand.

"A-alright then, Issei," Valiana followed Issei.

"Geez, just call me Ise, alright. Everyone calls me that."

"O-okay, Ise," Valiana said with small blush on her cheek.

"Now, c'mon, the others are waiting!" Issei said, pulling Valiana with him.

 **[... Soon...]**

* * *

Since Issei managed to find someone to replace Rin, the other kids allowed him to play with them again. But of course, since Valiana was a girl, they couldn't be too rough on her, or any other girls for that matter. For the first time in forever since with her family, Valiana felt happiness, and hoped that somehow this would never end.

Soon enough, 5 hours had passed and nearly all of the kids had left the park with their parents, leaving only Issei and Valiana around. Before they left though, they took a photo together using a polaroid camera that one of the kids got from his parents. After that, the other kids made Issei and Valiana take a picture again, except this time it was just the two of them while they were holding hands. This was because they thought that since Issei was the one that invited a girl, moreover a pretty one at that, to their games, he should have the privilege of taking a picture together with her, much to their chagrin and blushing.

"Ne, Ise," Valiana said.

"What is it, Ana-chan?" Issei asked Valiana. Over the course of the tag, Issei started to call Valiana Ana-chan. His reason was that Valiana was too long to say, so he shortened it to Ana, resulting in another blush from Valiana.

"I wonder if we can still do this tomorrow," Ana sadly answered.

"Huh, why not? You'll still be here tomorrow right, Ana-chan?" Issei asked, confused with Ana's answer.

"Well, it's just, my grandfather won't approve of this. Ever since my parents were gone, he had been the one that took care of me. And he always says that I must not meet other people and play with kids my age."

"Eh, what kind of a grandpa is that? If he truly cares about you he should allow you to play. After all, it's not dangerous."

"N-no, it's not that I'm afraid of other people, it's more like I'm scared of grandfather. If I disobey him, grandfather will become angry, and then he will punish me. I don't want to be punished," Ana said with tears now flowing from her eyes.

"A-Ana-chan! D-don't cry, alright? I promise that I'll always protect you, and then you won't have to face your mean grandpa again, how about that?"

"P-promise?" Ana asked while wiping tears from her eyes.

"I swear on my life," Issei said, bumping his fist to his chest.

"Ho, then this will surely be interesting," an unknown voice suddenly said out of nowhere.

'H-huh, what was that voice?' Issei thought. But without having any chance to think further he was suddenly hit by something in his stomach, resulting in him crashing into a nearby tree.

"Ise!" Ana cried in alarm.

'Ugh, what happened? My back hurts,' Issei thought.

 **[Boy, can you hear me?]**

'W-what the?! Who said that!' Issei frantically thought.

"I-Ise! Are you alright?!" Ana ran to crouch beside Issei.

"A, a, a, stop right there, my little disgrace. Or would you like that boy to disappear like your parents, hmm?" a voice suddenly called Ana, who froze when she heard the voice.

Turning her head towards the source of the voice, Ana's face morphed into one of terror and fear.

"G-g-g-grandpa?"

"Now, now, what did I tell you about calling me grandpa? I told you to call me Rizevim-sama, right, my little disgrace? Or do I have to punish you again before you understand, you little bitch?" the now identified grandfather said.

He looked like a middle-aged man, probably in his late 30s or early 40s, only a couple of years older than Issei's father, with long silver hair and a beard. He was also wearing some sort of weird attire which was silver in color. With his appearance, Issei found it quite difficult to believe that he was a grandfather of someone, not that he had any time to dwell on the matter now.

"H-hey! Why did you say that to Ana-chan?! You're her grandpa, right? That's not nice!" Issei angrily said.

"Tch, what a persistent boy. I've already kicked you with a portion of my power, and yet you still resist like a cockroach, quite commendable really, for a trash like you. Hmm, alright, because you're still going to die, boy, I'll tell you everything. My name is Rizevim Livan Lucifer, the son of the Maou Lucifer himself. And that little disgrace over there, is the horrible excuse of a granddaughter of mine. That imbecile son of mine, the proud and great devil, the descendant of Lucifer himself, dared to marry a woman, a human woman?! What a joke! Hehehe, I truly relished it when I killed both of them, really slowly. Ah, the sound, the voice, the wailing, now that's ecstasy, hahahaha," Rizevim said.

"W-what?! B-but, you said that mother and father disappeared, and so you took me in, but you actually killed them?! W-why?" Ana asked, distraught by what she has just heard.

"Why? Why?! Look at me girl! Look!" Rizevim said while spreading hands. From his back sprouted twelve black leathery wings, like those of a bat.

"Look! The ultimate proof that I'm the true descendant of the Lucifer! Only a true descendant of the original Maou can have more than one pair of wings. And yet that imbecile dared to dirty this pure blood, this proud blood, by that of a lowly human, utterly unacceptable! So that's why I killed that ex-son of mine, and your bitch of a mother too," Rizevim nonchalantly said.

"Y-you... I hate you!" Ana screamed as she charged Rizevim, only to be kicked in the stomach.

"Guh..."

"A-Ana-chan!" Issei shouted as he saw Ana's body getting flung out to a nearby tree.

"W-why? Why did you do this?! You are family, right? So why are you doing all of this?" Issei asked while still trying to move his injured body.

"Why? Why? Listen up, boy. Devils are beings that have to be evil, wicked, brutal, bad, scum, brutal, and vicious. Copying what's done by a hero? Hero? That is something that a 'just person' would do. You know, beings like humans and Angels? And what are we? You do know we are 'evil' and 'bad' existences, right? Then isn't it obvious what we have to do?" Rizevim loudly said.

"D-devil? I-is that true? D-does that mean, Ana-chan is a devil too? Is she evil too?" Issei's muttering, distressed.

"N-no! Don't listen to him, Ise! I-I truly meant what I said before! I truly cherish the time when we were playing, and I really want to play with you again, Ise. I'm truly grateful, that you invited me to play with you. So please, Ise, believe me," Ana pleaded.

"... Yes, of course. Why should I doubt Ana-chan? She's my friend, and friends never doubt each other. Don't worry, Ana-chan. I'll always believe you," Issei replied.

"Ise..."

"Blegh, what the hell with all of this lovey-dovey crap? Alright, change of plans. I actually wanted to torture you first, boy, before I killed you in front of this little bitch. But you've already taken quite a bit of time from me, so I'll have to kill you now," Rizevim said while lifting his right hand, gathering his devil power.

"N-no!"

"Ana-chan!"

"Guh..."

Ana crumpled over after she blocked Rizevim's attack intended for Issei.

"A-Ana-chan, are you alright?!" Issei frantically asked.

"Ugh... I-I'm fine, Ise," Ana replied.

"Tch, what is this? Just like your father, getting in my way when I tried to kill your mother, and finally died together with her, pathetic. Fine then, though I already had plans for you, if you want to die with the boy, so be it. Just don't regret it...," Rizevim said with a manic glint in his eyes as he gathered more demonic power than before in his right hand.

Looking at the immense energy, Issei could only stay still hugging Ana's weak body, trying to protect her.

'Tch, is this it? I-I finally found what I'm looking for. And yet, I can't protect her at all. Please, my body, move, move, move, move. I need power, power, power.'

'I want more power.'

 **[So be it, boy. I shall lend you my power.]**

"Hraaaaah. [Dragon Divider!]," Issei shouted, along with a new unknown voice. From his back, Issei also sprouted wings like Rizevim, except he only had two pairs. One was a pair of metallic white colored wings with transparent blue webbing, while the other was a pair of white scaly wings, like those of a dragon, with black and yellow patterns on the webbing.

"W-what the hell?! Divine Dividing and dragon wings?! Are you fucking kidding me?! This boy is both a dragonkin and the current Hakuryuukou?!" Rizevim said, surprised by what he had seen.

Lifting his right hand, Issei shouted again, "[Half Dimension!]".

Suddenly the amount of demonic power that Rizevim had, both the one in his right hand and in himself, drastically decreased.

"W-what the?!"

"Hraah!" Issei shouted at the top of his lungs as he charged and delivered a punch straight to Rizevim's solar plexus, throwing him to the far end of the park.

"I-I did it, ugh," Issei said before he fell unconscious to the ground.

"I-Ise! Wake up, Ise," Ana cried out while frantically shaking Issei's body, trying to wake him up.

"Don't worry. He's just unconscious," a voice suddenly said.

"W-who's there?" Ana asked, startled and scared by the voice. She had enough with sudden and mysterious voices for today.

"Hey, hey, is that a way to say hello to your uncle?" A man then appeared.

The man appeared to be quite tall, 6 feet and 2 inches, and also young, maybe around 20s. He had average build, black hair with golden bangs, and black goatee.

"U-uncle Azazel?!"

"Yep, your beloved good ol' uncle," the now identified Azazel, the Governor General of the Fallen Angels and the Grigori, said.

"Uncle!" Ana cried as she hugged Azazel.

"There, there, everything's gonna be alright, okay?" Azazel said as he patted Ana's head, trying to calm her.

"Azazel, what are you doing here?"

"Hn, oh, Rizevim. Heh, looks like the boy has done quite a number on you, huh?" Azazel said as he turned his head to look at Rizevim.

Rizevim's attire now had been dirtied with grime and dust, with a tear here and there. There was also blood flowing from his midsection and his mouth.

"Tch, the boy's just lucky, that's all," Rizevim answered,

"Hahaha, maybe. But you know what you have to do now, right?" Azazel suddenly turned serious as he narrowed his eyes at Rizevim.

For a while, none of them spoke a word, silently communicating with their eyes, until Rizevim relented.

"Grrr, fine. But remember, Azazel. I shall return for them," Rizevim said as he disappeared using a magic circle.

"And at that time, they'll be ready for you, Rizevim."

"Now, Valiana-chan, let's go home, alright?" Azazel said to Ana.

"B-but, what about Issei? We can't just leave him there," Ana said.

"Ah, don't worry about your little boyfriend," Azazel said, resulting in Ana blushing madly.

"How about you come out now, hmm?"

"*sigh* You always know, huh, Azazel."

A man then came out from between the trees. He looked like he was in his late 20s to early 30s. He was quite tall, a bit taller than Azazel. He had a lean but muscular body. His hair was black with blonde strands. His eyes were like Issei, except that his left eye was the one that was black, while his right eye was gold colored.

"Hehehe, so, it's truly you, pffft, hehehe, hahahahahahaha," Azazel suddenly erupted into an uncontrolled laughter.

"U-uncle? What's wrong? Who is that man?" Ana asked, confused with her uncle's outburst.

"Hahahaha, to, to think that you, pffft, the battle maniac, khk, turned over a new leaf, married a human woman, a-and then had a son... Hahahaha. Oh, this is gold," Azazel continued to laugh while wiping fake tears.

"*sigh* Alright, Azazel, please, stop it," the man said again.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry *wheeze*, pffft," Azazel said while still recovering from his earlier outburst.

"Phew, to answer your questions, Valiana-chan. That man, is your future father-in-law," Azazel teased Ana, resulting in Ana blushing madly, again.

"N-nice to meet you, Mr. Hyoudou," Ana said to the now identified Issei's father, while still trying to control her blush.

"Hahaha, no need to call me Mr. Hyoudou. Hyoudou is my wife's maiden name. My name is Chrome Dubh. You can call me Chrome, Valiana, or even Dad. What Azazel said is right, you're going to be my daughter-in-law after all, hahaha," Chrome said as he also teased Ana.

"A-alright," Ana complied, now already became redder than a tomato.

"But still, to think the Evil Dragon of Evil Dragons become a father. That's quite unbelievable, you know," Azazel said.

"Eh?" Ana said, confused.

"Hey, I have my own reasons and circumstances, you know. That being said, what are you going to do now?" Chrome asked.

"I intend to bring Valiana with me to the Fallen's territory. I'm going to train her, so she can survive on her own. What about the boy?"

"*sigh* At first I had hoped that he won't be exposed to the supernatural world until he was at least a teenager, but I guess that's just wishful thinking. The only thing I can do now is erase his memory, and hope that it will be at least 10 years before he's exposed again. I want him to at least have a normal childhood, you see."

"Besides, his mother will kill me if she finds out his son is exposed to the supernatural this early," Chrome continued in whisper, though no one paid that any mind.

"Eh, but, does that mean Ise will forget me?" Ana asked, scared that Issei would forget her.

"No, don't worry, I'll just modify his memory about meeting Rizevim. He'll still remember about you and playing with you. But, that means you can't see him anymore, at least not until he's exposed again to supernatural world," Chrome explained.

"I-I see," Ana said as she looked down.

"Hey, don't be sad. You both have a photo of both of you together, right? If you miss him, just look at the photo. I'm sure Issei will the same. Ah, to see my son take his first couple photo, time sure flies fast, huh," Chrome said.

"Y-yes, you're right. If I miss Ise, I can just look at the photo. Thank you, Mr. Chrome," Ana said gratefully.

"Alright, now that's done, let's go home, alright, Valiana?" Azazel said.

"Y-yes," Ana said as she stood beside Azazel. Black light started to envelop both of them.

"How about the training, Chrome? Surely, he can't stay like that, even if you seal his powers and the Divine Dividing," Azazel asked.

"Don't worry, there's a lot of ways to train someone without magic, you know. Besides, the seal will automatically break on his 18th birthday or if he's exposed to the supernatural world," Chrome answered.

"I see. Well then, see you next time, 'Chrome'," Azazel said with a smirk.

"See you again, Mr. Chrome," Ana cheerfully said, though she still had some sadness in her eyes.

After that, both of them disappeared in a blinding light.

"Now, to do something about my son," Chrome pondered as he walked to near his son.

[Have they left?]

"Yes, they have left, Albion."

[Good, now we can talk about your son, my current partner. But still, I agree with Azazel, to think that the Crescent Circle Dragon married a human woman and become a father, moreover the father of the current Hakuryuukou, that's what I'd either call fate, or a really bad joke, *chuckle*,] Albion said, holding his laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, stop it. I don't want that said to my face again, alright? *sigh* And I think Azazel's bad enough," Chrome mourned.

[Hahahaha, fine, fine. Let's get back on topic.]

"Okay, I'm sure you've heard the outline. I'll seal you, along with Issei's draconic power, until his 18th birthday or until he's somehow exposed to the supernatural world on his own, when the seal will break on its own."

[That's a good plan. Except for one thing.]

"What is it?"

[When I first woke up, I lend your son my power, as you know. But somehow, he accessed part of my powers that is supposed to be out of his reach.]

"And that is?"

[He used Half Dimension.]

"... Are you sure? Isn't that can only be accessed if the user is in Balance Breaker form?"

[Yes, I am. Even I don't know what is the reason. I presume this is connected with your son draconic's heritage, hence why he somehow can access more powers than my previous bearers. After all, none of them are half-dragon, or even have dragon blood in them. But this makes his young body receiving too much strain, moreover from what Rizevim has inflicted to him. Continual exposure towards magic and the supernatural I fear will endanger him, especially since he never as much as coming in touch with any of them before now.]

"I see. How long do you think he needs?"

[When I examined him, around 5 to 6 years. 10 years, right before he matures, if we really want to be safe.]

"Hmm, that means he may be ready before his 18th birthday," Chrome said, thinking deeply.

[What should we do now?] Albion asked.

"... We change the plan a bit. If he is truly ready before his 18th birthday, then that is fate. We will change the condition of his memory's returns into when he is physically and mentally ready towards the supernatural instead of the 10 years countdown," Chrome finally replied after thinking a bit.

[You, you already have some plans, don't you?] Albion asked.

"Well, even if I'm now an ex-Evil Dragon, I'm still the Crescent Circle Dragon, right? So, of course, I have some cards in my sleeve," Chrome answered.

[Heh, then let's do this.]

"Alright, I hope you're ready, Albion. See you again in around 10 years, hopefully" Chrome said as he lifted his right hand, glowing with black and yellow power.

'Heh, looks like, my son's life is going to be so much interesting. Hehehe, I'll look forward for it, kiddo... Oh shit, how am I gonna explain this to Tomoe?! Oh man, I'm so screwed!'

* * *

 _So..., how is it? Sorry if there're any errors in it. Whether it's bad or good, feel free to comment either by review or PM. If it's not clear, the pairing is Issei x fem!Vali, without harem. To be honest, I don't know if I should post this story or not, but my friends told me that this is good. So yeah, here it is. Expect the next chapter soon._

 _May We Meet Again._


	2. Chapter I

_I'm alive! Alright, this chapter is supposed to come out yesterday, but real life happened and I'm forced to postpone the chapter until now. You guys might notice that the chapter is a lot shorter than the prologue, but it's because the chapter is just some sort of build up for the main event. Before we get to the chapter, I want to say thank you to all of you who have followed and favorited this story, you guys rock, and to adress the reviews for previous chapter._

 _ **Sasuke75249, Team5dsforever, Rodvek97, darth56, Shi, RevansStories, i may love or hate you, ichika aono, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Tohka Yatogami** : Thank you for the compliment. I hope you also like this chapter, as short as it is._

 _ **Gravity Force** :This might be a bit spoiler-ish, but I figured it would be a bit more exciting to tell you and the others right now that, no, Issei won't be a devil. At least, not in the traditional sense._

 ** _runelt99_** _: I wrote as in my mind, Azazel is perverted-slash-jerk-yet-also-kind like that, while Chrome is just your usual dad making dad jokes while trying to embarass his son._

 ** _SummerScale_** _: That first sentence is quite a good guess on how this story will fold out,_ **** _but I'm not gonna tell. And for the last sentence, I will just inform all of you guys again right here, right now, that this story is stricly Issei x Valiana, without harem. There will be another pairings down the line, but that will be for me to write, and all of you to guess._

 ** _merendinoemiliano,_ _gyanubaba8_** _: To merendino, I've told you via PM, but just in case anyone else has the same question. In this AU, Ana's (Vali) father isn't a dick, unlike Rizevim, so he eloped with his human lover, Ana's mother, and then hid with Azazel's, his close friend, help. Of course, shit happened and thus we have what we have right now. And to both of you, and anyone else with the same question, Ana won't get Boosted Gear. She will get her own Sacred Gear later, but it will still from a dragoness. The clue is the dragoness comes from Jewish-Egyptian mythology. The part about harem has been adressed._

 ** _0King_** _: First off, cool name, bro, so epic. Like what I mentioned above, she won't become Red Dragon Empress, but that doesn't mean she won't become a Dragon Empress._

 _And with all of that done, let the chapter commences. Happy Reading._

* * *

Chapter I

 _White, and then red. White again, and then red again. White, red, white, red, the cycle kept continuing without end. As the vision zoomed out, the color suddenly changed. Both white and red turned into a pair of dragons. Flying above a desolate land, both of them were fighting with each other. Biting, clawing, exhaling fire, wrestling with each other, both of them kept fighting until what seemed to be forever. As the scene of the fight became a bit tedious, it changed again._

 _As opposed to earlier, the color that existed now was only white, white as far as the eyes could see. [We will meet soon, Partner,] an unknown voice came out of nowhere. After the voice stopped talking, the vision was altered again. Now there was a girl, with silver long hair that reached her thighs, standing in the middle of the field of white._

 _"We will meet again soon, Ise. But before that, you must wake up," the girl spoke. And then, everything went dark._

* * *

As soon as the dream ended, 17-years-old Hyoudou-Dubh Issei, second year at Kuoh Academy, woke up in his bed.

'What the hell?! What's that dream?!' Issei thought.

Examining his clock, he saw bright blue 00:01 staring back at him.

'God, it's still midnight, what happened?'

As soon as he finished that thought, Issei suddenly felt a pain in his head

'Gah! W-what is this?!' Issei's mind screamed in pain. Along with the pain, he also saw some images in his mind.

* * *

 _"O-oh, um, m-my name is Valiana Lu-, eh, L. Cifer. Nice to meet you too."_

 _A silver haired girl introducing herself._

 _"A-Ana-chan! D-don't cry, alright? I promise that I'll always protect you, and then you won't have to face your mean grandpa again, how about that?"_

 _His younger self, no more than 7, promising to protect said girl._

 _"My name is Rizevim Livan Lucifer, the son of the Maou Lucifer himself."_

 _A silver-haired man, the girl's grandfather, appeared and admitted to being the cause of the girl's pain._

 _"[Dragon Divider!]"_

 _Two pair of wings, one metallic in nature while the other was more natural, burst out from his younger self's back._

 _"[Half Dimension!]"_

 _And the last image is his younger self charging towards the man, punching the man right at the solar plexus. After which he lost his consciousness._

* * *

'T-those images... these memories... 10 years ago... Don't tell me,' Issei's eyes widened.

Moving his body from his bed, Issei went to his desk and picked up his phone.

'10 years ago... Today is June 13th, 10 years ago must be also around that, which means...'

"Ana-chan?" Issei muttered, distressed.

'Yes, 10 years ago is exactly the day when I met Ana, and also the day when she returned with her relatives after we're attacked by someone who intended to kidnap Ana. Wait kidnap her? Does that mean Rizevim? Does that mean my memories are telling the truth? That devils, dragons, and the supernatural are real? Goddammit, now all of this is really making me confused,' Issei held his head, overwhelmed by what he was thinking.

'Ugh, wait, calm down. Take a deep breath. Dad always said that a calm mind is a key in every battle,' Issei took a deep breath as he calmed his mind.

Once he managed to calm his mind, he picked something up from his desk, it appeared to be a photo of young Issei and a silver haired girl, Ana, holding hands and blushing heavily, albeit still smiling, while looking at the camera.

"Ana..."

'Now, what should I do? Well, I better do some exercise. It's too early for a jog, but Dad always says that doing exercise can help distract you. Now that I think about it... All this things about exercise and martial arts started ten years ago, isn't it? Hm...' Issei thought as he changed into his workout clothes and then lied on the floor, doing sit-ups.

* * *

'I guess I should just confront them directly. I mean, they are my parents, what's the worst that can happen? ... Note to self, do not tempt fate,' Issei thought, and sweat dropped, as he went down the stairs of his house to have breakfast with his parents before he went to school.

After Issei was done exercising, he continued to mull over his new memories until he realized one fact. Rizevim said that he was a dragon-kin. That meant one of his parents must be sort of draconic in nature, probably.

'That explains why I have two pair of wings. The metallic one, I had a feeling it doesn't have anything to do with my supposed dragon's heritage. The natural one, however,' Issei contemplated.

Reaching the dining room, Issei looked at his parents, still weighing his choices of whether to ask directly or not.

"Oh, Issei, did you get enough sleep?" Chrome, Issei's father, asked as he read a newspaper.

"Y-yeah, I slept long enough," Issei answered awkwardly as he sat at the table and ate his breakfast.

"Issei, are you sure? Your eyes look tired, are you sure you're not sick?" Tomoe, Issei's mother, also asked, concerned with her son's wellbeing.

Tomoe was beautiful woman in her late 20s to early 30s though she seemed to be younger than Chrome. She was quite tall for a woman, though she only reached Chrome's shoulder. She had red eyes and waist-length lilac white hair that was let loose. Although her appearance was like that, she's a natural born Japanese. Her appearance was caused by her apparent albinism.

"I'm fine, Mom, really," Issei lied.

"Really, Issei? If you're sick you can just stay at home today, you know," Tomoe said again.

"Well, the thing is..., Dad, are you a dragon?" Issei bluntly asked.

The only reaction that Issei received was just how his father tensed and a muttering of, "He's ready, huh."

"Issei...," Tomoe said with wide eye, not believing that the day she feared the most had arrived.

"*sigh* Issei, once you finish school, come home immediately. We have something to discuss," Chrome said seriously.

"Uh, okay... *gulp* Anyway, I've finished. I'm gonna go to school now, love you, Mom, Dad," Issei awkwardly said as he stood up from his chair and picked up his bag.

"Issei, you forgot your goodbye kiss," Tomoe exclaimed.

"Oh, really? Yeah, I forgot," Issei then awkwardly kissed his mother's cheek, and then he was kissed also on the cheek.

"Geez, Mom, I'm not a kid anymore," Issei scrubbed his own cheek, embarrassed.

"Fufufu, you'll always be my little baby, Issei. Alright, be careful, don't be late!" Tomoe told Issei, albeit with a sad look.

"I-I won't," Issei replied as he went outside.

Tomoe sighed as she saw Issei's gone.

"Chrome, is Issei..." Tomoe said, worried about Issei.

"Yes, the probability is quite high. But don't worry, he won't be outright feeling other supernatural beings' presence and vice versa. We still have time to teach him how to control his powers. Hmm... it seems that I have to go back to my old lair to get my equipment," Chrome said as he also stood up from his chair.

"I see, make sure you come home before dinner, okay? Or else," Tomoe narrowed her eyes at Chrome.

Stopping just as he was about to go out, Chrome turned his head as he shivered.

"Of course, honey," the disguised dragon submitted, not wanting to experience what happened 10 years ago again.

* * *

Sighing to himself in exhaustion, Issei continued to walk.

'From their reaction, looks like I'm right. Dad is a dragon, huh. What does that make me? Half dragon? Is this even what a 17-year old should think? It's almost like I experienced those so called 2nd grader syndrome,' Issei thought as he walked in slow pace towards Kuoh Academy.

As Issei arrived at the school gate, he's surprised by what he saw. And what surprised Issei most was currently standing in front of the school gate, watching over the students who came through it.

'T-this feeling! It's similar to Rizevim!' Issei thought, surprised by what he felt.

"Hyoudou, what are you doing just standing there? You're hindering other students," Shitori Sona, the bespectacled student council president, reprimanded him. She had black hair in short bob cut with violet eyes.

Snapped out from his daze, Issei quickly answered, "O-oh, a-apologies, Shitori-senpai." After that, he quickly went to his classroom, ignoring his feeling of trepidation.

* * *

Even after the class had begun, Issei was still continuing to think about what he had seen this morning.

'So, Shitori-senpai is a devil? Wait, Shitori... T-that is Sitri, one of the 72 demons of Ars Goetia! Wait, isn't there also one Rias Gremory on the same grade as her? Gremory is also from the Ars Goetia! Don't say that-?!' Issei finally understood why his father kept telling him that learning about demonology would help him greatly.

In caution, Issei slowly used this newfound sense of him to cover the whole school while still trying to not be noticed. In the end, he found out that the whole school was covered by devil's energy's signature.

'One, two, three, so many?!' as Issei thought over this newfound fact, he realized.

'Man, I'm so fucked up!'

* * *

 _So, that's the end of this chapter. I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in the writings and if any of you feel that the chapter is too short. But just like I said above, this chapter is just the opening to the main course. About the next update, I will be late in posting it since the dreaded final exams weeks have started for my univ, so I'm very sorry for the inconveniences. Feel free to comment either throught PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._


	3. Chapter II

_So, apparently I survived my exams weeks. As you can see, this is another short filler built-up chapter. I think I just not that good in writing built-up and filler chapters, so I hope you guys like it. Before we get onto the chapter though, I want to say thank you to all of you that have followed and favorited this story, I really appreaciate it. And I also want to adress the reviews for previous chapter. First, Issei will never ever become a devil, I give you my word on it. And the second is about Issei's dragon status. Don't worry, that will be addressed in this chapter. With that out of the way, let's get onto the chapter, shall we? Happy Reading._

 _P.S. The new cover of the story is how I imagine Issei in this AU._

* * *

Chapter II

'What the hell?! What should I do now?' Issei sighed as he asked himself for the thousandth time.

Looking outside from the class through the window that was on his desk's left side, Issei continued to contemplate on what he had found out earlier that day.

'So many devils! I just hope that none of them found out what I am, or I will be dead in any moment! Oh wait, how can I be sure that all of them are like Rizevim, and none of them are like Ana? Ugh, who am I kidding? The possibility is just too high to ignore!'

Sighing again, Issei turned his head to look around his class. It's lunchtime at the moment, so the amount of the students that were in the class was quite small.

'Ugh, I just hope that school will end fast, so I can go home much sooner.'

* * *

'Finally! Thank God that I managed to act normal all day. Don't them to be suspicious of me, at least until I understand all of this, after all. I just hope that Dad and Mom can explain all of things to me,' Issei thought as he walked on the street towards his home.

Opening the front door, Issei said loudly, "I'm home!"

"Ah, good afternoon, Issei. Go take a bath first, we'll have a dinner once your father has returned," Tomoe said from the kitchen.

"Okay, Mom," Issei replied as he went to his room.

After he took his bath, Issei went downstairs only to see his father was being treated by his mother. All of his thoughts about confronting his father gone from his mind.

"W-what happened?" Issei asked.

"No, no, don't worry. I just got into some scuffles with my friends back at my hometown, hee-hee," Chrome tried to ease Issei's worry while chuckling.

"Hometown? You mean, Ireland?" Issei put up a confused expression.

"Yeah, I got something to do back home, so I have to come back," Chrome explained.

"Uh, wait, you went to Ireland this morning, and then went back tonight. I don't know if there's something wrong with me, but I'm sure as hell that that's impossible. Especially since we don't have a private jet," Issei narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arms.

Realizing his slip, Chrome tried to come up with something as a rebuttal.

"Uh..., we do have a private jet?"

Only to fail miserably and received a raised eyebrow that not unlike his wife's. Sighing in surrender, Chrome looked at his wife for help.

"No, dear. I can't help you now. You are the one who slipped, so you have to bear the responsibility. Now, I'll leave both of you here to talk this out while I prepare the table, alright?" Tomoe said as she went to the dining room.

"Dad?" Issei asked again, his eyebrow still raised.

"Guh, curse me and my mouth," Chrome muttered as he tried to come up with an explanation.

"Augh, I'm not good at this kind of thing. Let's just settle it like this. After dinner, come with me to my study, Issei. I'll explain everything there," Chrome said with a weary tone.

"You better explain everything, old man," Issei replied, not knowing how truthful his statement was.

* * *

After the dinner, Issei followed his father to his study. He usually wasn't permitted to enter his father's study, except when his father occasionally gave him books to read, and even then, it was only a glimpse. So, he was quite surprised to find shelves of books lining the walls.

Pulling some books from the shelves Chrome then threw them to Issei who catch them.

"Read them," Chrome ordered.

"W-what?!"

"You hear me."

"O-okay..."

Examining the books, Issei noticed that they are books about various mythologies around the world. One book for each of the really popular mythologies like Greek, Japanese, Norse, Hindu, Egypt, Celtic, and one more book about lesser known mythologies. There're also three books explaining about the Christian mythologies. The last book was the thickest and heaviest. Its cover, unlike the others which were just like plain normal encyclopedia, except that they're seemed to be more sophisticated, was made using some foreign leather, with a black and yellow colored dragon image burned to it. Its title was written in a language which is foreign to Issei, and yet he could read it just fine. The title was read, 'Encyclopedia Draconica', and below it was written, 'Owned by the Crescent Circle Dragon'.

'Crescent Circle Dragon? Who is it? Wait! Don't tell me my father is...'

"Dad, does this mean, you really are a dragon?" Issei looked up from the book to look at his father.

"Ha, ha, ha, I knew you can read the words. This means you are a true dragon!" Chrome laughed.

"Wait, are you saying that I am also a dragon?" Issei asked disbelievingly.

"Well, not a full-blooded dragon, more like a half-dragon, though I know that you have figured that out already. But if we were to ignore the technicality, yes, Issei, you are a dragon, since even half-breeds are as strong as pure-blooded ones and still immortal, albeit you're still a really young one," Chrome answered.

"H-half?! T-then, Mom is not a..."

"No, no, your mother is a human, though she is not an ordinary human," Chrome explained.

"Eh, then who is she?" Issei asked.

"All in good time, kiddo. All in good time. Now, just read one of those books for tonight. Continue for tomorrow night and the next nights too, one book for each night until you're done. And then you will understand," Chrome said.

"Okay, but I guess I will start with this one," Issei lifted Encyclopedia Draconica with his right hand while holding the other books with his left one.

"Hmm, now that's a good choice. Look like you're truly my son. Go on then, you can read it here. I will try to answer any questions you have," Chrome said as he leaned on one of the shelves.

Nodding, Issei sat in the nearby desk and start reading the book. Far into the night, past midnight or so, Issei managed to finish the book.

Putting the book down on the table, Issei looked at his father with an uncertain stare.

"S-so you are... You actually are... I am a...," Issei stuttered as he didn't know what to say.

"An Evil Dragon? Yeah, I am. Well, to be exact, I'm an ex-Evil Dragon, but that doesn't mean anything, right? After all, I was evil," Chrome answered with wistful smile.

"I-I...," Issei still stuttered.

Drawing a deep breath, Issei composed himself and calmly asked, "Why?"

"Why? Now that's the question, isn't it? The answer is quite simple, I met your mother. I met her all those years ago when I was roaming the world after Balor's death. At first, I thought she was just like any other human female, maybe a little more than normal, but still the same. But then, it happened. I fell, no, I fall in love with her. And she with me. We then had you. Of course, I always had the choice to just leave but somehow, I just, don't want to. I somehow knew that she is the one for me. So, I decided to settle down with your mother, erasing any traces of my existence and choosing to live here in your mother's birth country," Chrome recounted the past with a nostalgic smile.

"Do you regret it? Mating, um, marrying a human female?" Issei asked again, still fixing his stare at Chrome.

"No, not in a million years, or in forever, in that matter," Chrome replied.

"But, Mom is mortal, she will be gone one day. And then you will be all alone as a dragon can only have one mate in his whole life," Issei said with both sad and confused expression.

"Well, haven't you read the book? Do you forget about the Soul Bond?" Chrome now the one who asked Issei.

"Yes, I have. It means- Wait, are you saying that?" Issei asked with a disbelieving expression.

"Hmm, of course I established a Soul Bond with your mother. I finally found someone who I loved dearly, do you think that I will let her go so easily?" Chrome answered with a haughty expression.

"Eh, wait, wait, wait. Doesn't Soul Bond mean that if one dies, the other one will also die?"

"Pff, as if I will make things as impractical as that. Even if I'm no longer an Evil Dragon, back when I was one I was called the strongest Evil Dragon, you know. Do you really think I will let something like that kills me?"

"Uh, well, what did you do then?"

"I modified it, of course. Rather than one die when another die, I made it so that your mother will only die when I die. So, don't worry, your mother will still be with us for a really, really long time. And before you ask, your mother will stay young, after all, dragons are being of pure life force, meaning that we can't die, only reincarnate after some time, so your mother won't age because of running out of life force any time soon."

"I see... Wow, you really thought out all of it, huh, Dad," Issei was amazed by his father.

"I may be a battle maniac, but I'm not stupid, you know. On a side note though, your mother was not really accepting of the idea at first. So, I had to use you to blackmail your mother until she agreed to the Soul Bond, but I don't think she regrets the decision," Chrome smirked.

"You really love Mom, don't you, Dad? Just who is Mom, really?"

"You're damn right, son. About who your mother is, now is not the right time for you to know. You have finished the book, right? Now go to sleep, don't want you to be late for school, do we? Oh, and take the Encyclopedia Draconica with you, it belongs to you now for you to keep and add to it."

"Okay, I also need time to digest all of these things, anyway," Issei stood up from the desk, carrying the book, and went to the door.

"Oh yeah, Dad-"

"Is it about the devils at your school?"

"Eh, uh, yeah. What should I do?"

"Nah, don't worry about them. They're the peaceful lots. As long as you don't bother them, they won't bother you. Not all devils are like Rizevim, you know."

"!" Issei went wide-eyed at the name.

"Don't worry, son. Once I'm done with you, you will kick his ass back to kingdom come," Chrome joked with a grin.

"Something tells me this will be much harder than what you're subjecting me to right now. Well, looking forward for it then, Dad," Issei answered, also with a grin,

"Heh, good night, son."

"Good night to you too, Dad," Issei looked back at his father while opening the door.

Arriving at his room, there's only one thing in Issei's thoughts.

'I must become stronger.'

* * *

 _So, that's the end of this chapter. I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in the writings and if any of you feel that the chapter is too short. But just like I said above, this chapter is just another filler chapter, but I hope all of you like this one better than the last one. And as you can see, Issei's half-dragon status doesn't matter. There's only one word to describe those with dragon blood, dragonkin, and you ancestry doesn't have anything to affect it (dragon blood is just that strong). In fact, one can say that Issei's human heritage only makes him stronger. After all, that's why he got Divine Divider._ _I hope this chapter answered the questions you have about Issei's dragon status. Lastly, feel free to comment either throught PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._


	4. Chapter III

_So, it seems I can post this chapter on time. As you can see, we're starting to get to the action part of the first arc now. Before we get into the chapter though, I have to say thank you to all of you that have followed and favorited this story. Now with that out of the way, let's begin the chapter. Happy Reading._

* * *

Chapter III

'Phew, I finally finished Dad's training,' Issei thought as he trudged his way to the school weakly.

After that night with his father, Issei continued to read the books every night, and after 3 weeks, managed to finish all of them. It's not like his reading speed was slow, it's just that the day after he finished a book, his father would ask him some questions and discuss some subjects with him about the book he just read, in order to make sure he memorized and understood the knowledge from the book. It showed that the elder dragon wasn't just some dumb muscle head. He wasn't book-smart, but at least he could think on his toes. So far, it's not a bad thing, Issei managed to get some information that might give him some advantage if in case he had to fight against another supernatural being. After that though, he was given one-week time by his father to prepare himself for training from Chrome.

* * *

 _"What? Training?" Issei asked dumbly. He just finished the discussion about the last book last night, he didn't expect that he would just continue straight to the spartan-level training._

 _"Yes, Issei. It is time for upgrading your training," Chrome answered patiently while drinking his tea._

 _"I see," Issei continued before taking a deep breath._

 _"Alright, I'm ready. When do we start, tonight?"_

 _"Nope. Not yet. I still have to prepare some things. Maybe, the day after tomorrow. In the meantime, I expect you to prepare yourself, because this time will be so very different than before," Chrome said that with a really scary grin, like a predator watching its prey. It was at that time that Issei finally believed that his father used to be an Evil Dragon._

 _Gulping, Issei affirmed his will and then also grinned, "Well, bring it on, then!"_

* * *

'But still, as good as the training is, it is still two full-month of hell. I even still can't feel my left side of the hip!' Issei lamented in his heart.

'Oh well, I am positively stronger than before now though. Dad might be not proficient in magic, but he covers it with his skillful fighting style that he created over his years of continual battle. Moreover, Dad gave 'that' to me. Yeah, 'its' power is sealed, but still, to think that Dad has something like that...'

* * *

 _"Alright, that's it for today," Chrome signaled for Issei to stop._

 _Falling and then lying on the ground exhausted, Issei spoke, "Huff, huff, why stop now? Usually we will stop much later."_

 _"Oh, do you still want to continue?" Chrome taunted with a hungry grin on his face._

 _Realizing that he just dug his own grave, again, Issei just shut his mouth._

 _"Hahaha, relax, I'm just kidding. In fact, today is the last day of your training. I think you now can take care of yourself. After all, a whelp can't always be guided all his life," Chrome said, the grin before now was just a proud smile._

 _Issei just stayed silent at that, knowing that if he said something, it might end up deepening his grave._

 _"Oh well, stand up. I have a gift for you," Chrome said while putting his right hand inside his pocket dimension._

 _Standing up, Issei just stared at his father. Pocket dimension was just one of many skills of the dragon race. Because dragon was a race of arcane creatures, so of course they had magic skill such as this. Pulling his hand from the pocket dimension, what Chrome had in his hand was a long spear. The length was around 8 feet, and both of its shaft and its head are colored white, with blue and yellow patterns on it._

 _"D-Dad, what is that?" Issei asked dumbfoundedly._

 _"He, he, he. be honored, my son. For what you see in front of you now is Brionac, the spear that Lugh himself used to kill Balor!" Chrome proudly announced._

 _"W-what?! B-but how?!"_

 _"Well, you know about my past. After that shining brat, damn that kid, killed the old fart, I might or might not had silently taken the spear out of the old fart's body without anyone knowing and then ran away. Besides, no one actually realized that I had taken the spear, everyone was too absorbed in praising the shining brat's victory, so it's fine if I took it, right?" Chrome said with that signature grin of his again._

 _"A-and this is your gift for me? Brionac?" Issei asked, still not believing all of this._

 _"Hmph, do you think I will just give Brionac to you as it is? Of course, I have tweaked it a bit. Currently, it isn't as strong as its original state since I have sealed its power, so you will have to be stronger in order to break the seals one by one," Chrome said, throwing the spear to Issei._

 _"Tch, figures. Well, fortunately I like to use spears more than swords," Issei said while opening his hand. With his training so far, catching the 8 feet long spear was an easy feat for him._

 _"But still, only use that as a last resort, okay? We don't want you swinging around an 8 feet long weapon-of-mass-destruction around the neighborhood, do we?" Chrome joked._

 _"Yeah, yeah, I understand," Issei replied as he put Brionac into his pocket dimension._

* * *

Continuing to walk towards the school gate, Issei didn't notice the crowd that was gathering in front of him until he bumped to Motohama and Matsuda.

"Ow, oi, Issei, watch where you are walking, will you?" Motohama said, fixing his glasses irritably.

"Sorry, guys, I just don't have too much sleep lately. Ha, ha, ha." Issei laughed nervously at the end of the statement.

"Tch, you probably just watch videos until past midnight, right? Just say so, Issei. We understand," Matsuda said while nodding sagely.

"*sigh* Yeah, yeah, whatever you guys said," Issei lied.

And both of them just accepted it like that, turning back to once again saw whatever it was that occupied their attention before.

"So, what's going on, really?" Issei asked, curious on the reason why a crowd gathered in front of school.

"What?! You don't know?! Okay, you have to see this! Only then you will know true magnificence!" both of Matsuda and Motohama said as they pulled Issei to the front of the crowd.

There, walking to the school entrance were two persons that were acknowledged as the "Two Queens of Kuoh". One is Himejima Akeno. With long lustrous black hair, pale skin, calm demeanor, and ever-present smile, it's no wonder she's called as Yamato Nadeshiko by other students at Kuoh. Her amazing proportions also didn't help others from looking away for her at the corridors.

If Akeno was a true Eastern beauty, then Rias Gremory could also be said as a fine example of a true Western beauty. Long red hair reaching her hips, pale skin, sparkling blue eyes, elegant and refined movements, moreover with the rumors of her noble background, the title "Queen" wasn't just a mere title anymore.

But still, though Issei admitted that they're beautiful and all, he wasn't that enamored with them. After all, he already had that "special someone" in his heart. In fact, seeing them only reinforcing his will to become stronger for her and also bringing him a sense of longing, along with a sense of foreboding, both of them were devils, after all.

'I wonder what are you doing right now, Ana? If at that time, I've been really strong, would you still have to go? *sigh* No matter. What's past is past. Right now, I only need to make myself stronger, and then, we will surely meet again,' Issei thought as he clenched his fist.

Turning his body, he left the crowd as he strode silently into the school ahead of the others, though that action was still noticed by the two "Queens".

"Ara, Ara. It seems there is still someone who can resist our charms, Buchou," Akeno whispered to Rias.

"Yeah, and to think that it is a male, hmm... very interesting. Akeno, do you mind if I ask you to investigate his background a bit. I have a hunch we might found something... interesting," Rias asked Akeno.

"Ufufu, don't worry, Buchou. I think I might share your sentiment towards that boy too," Akeno giggled.

"I see. I expect it to be finished before we do our duty tonight then, Akeno."

"Yes, Buchou."

* * *

'Alright. That's it for the day,' Issei thought as he picked up his bag and came out from the school.

'I managed improve my physical abilities through training, but I still don't think this is enough. *sigh* I should better continue my training once I got home,' Issei continued his thought as he walked his way home.

Suddenly, as if he's under someone's influence, he deviated from his way and went to an abandoned manor. When he realized what had happened, he had already taken a step inside the manor.

'Wait?! What the?! What am I doing here?!' Issei thought as he regained his senses.

As he turned back towards the manor's entrance, the doors suddenly closed. From the shadow of the abandoned building, an alluring voice sounded out.

"Ufufu, this's the first time that someone managed to wake up earlier. But no need to worry, just come here, and I will show you something that will greatly please you."

Once again, as if under someone's influence, Issei suspected it's the voice, he walked towards the source.

"Yes, yes, come here, dear. I'm sure you'll be very pleased by what I am about to show you."

'Shit! What the hell is going on?! Wait, I've read this before! Devils used to use magic to seduce and consume their victims, but that should have been outlawed long ago. Don't tell me I'm going to be its dinner!' Issei frantically thought, somehow managed to retain his consciousness this time.

[-oy!]

After a while, Issei finally managed to see the source of the seducing voice. To say it was ugly would be the same as calling an 80-years old grandma as beautiful as a supermodel, what Issei saw was so grotesque that he actually glad that his father managed to drill some mental fortitudes into his basics.

[Bo-]

Although the main body was those of a beautiful woman, Issei wouldn't comment on how she was naked, but it's not like he paid that any mind, Issei's main focus was the big pairs of claws that the woman had that functioned as her legs. All in all, she looked like one big centaur-like monster, that seemed eager to eat him as a dinner.

[Boy.]

'Oh shit, I'm actually glad that I haven't eaten dinner yet. I don't know if my stomach can handle all of, whatever that thing is, devil or not,' Issei blanched.

[Boy!]

'And now that voice that I keep hearing is also getting louder. Wait, voice? Is this related to that thing that Dad said to dwell inside of me?'

[Boy!]

"Ufufu, don't put up such a pent-up expression, my dear. I assure you, this will end very soon, and you surely will experience, euphoria, from it," the half-woman-half-devil said.

'Euphoria, my ass. I would rather run away or at least stuck that claws of yours into any of your holes I can reach, if you have any that is,' Issei sarcastically thought.

"Now, let's begin, shall we? Bon Appetit,' it said as it drooled.

'Oh, fuck me!'

[BOY!]

Suddenly Issei could move his limbs. His training quickly took over and he managed to dodge the devil's jaws by a hair breadth.

'Okay, what happened? Why can I suddenly move?' Issei asked himself.

[Boy, quickly, summon me!]

'That voice again, why does it feel so familiar?'

"Guh, miss. But no matter, this time you will end up in my gut. Take this!" the devil then swung her claws towards Issei.

'Oh god, here she goes again,' Issei thought as he jumped quickly to escape the claws.

[C'mon, Boy! If you don't want to die, call my name! Call me!]

'Ugh, this voice... Just what am I supposed to do?' Issei thought as he frantically dodged every strike from the devil.

"Tch, you may be fast, but you can't dodge forever, human! Die now!" the devil swung her claws again, this time they're imbued with magic.

'Oh shit, guess this is it.'

[BOY!]

'Guh, the voice again. Goddammit, fine. His name... His name is...'

 **"ALBION!"**

Issei shouted at the top of his lungs.

 **[DRAGON DIVIDER]**

A pair of blue wings appeared from Issei's back and lifted him up into the sky. It looked like dragon's wings. The webbings were blue colored and seemed to be made of energy while the frame was white colored and adorned with yellow spikes.

'T-this feeling?! It's just like that time 10 years ago!' Issei thought in surprised.

[Heh, miss me, Boy?]

'This voice, I recognize it now. It's the same as the one from ten years ago back.'

[Hmm, looks like you still remember me, Boy, though 10 years have passed.]

'You, your name is Albion, right? Does that mean I...'

[Yes, you're this generation Hakuryuukou. But we will talk about that topic later. For now, focus on the enemy in front of you.]

'Alright, now that I got a chance to fight back.'

[Be careful. It is a devil, albeit a stray one. Do not underestimate it.]

'I see. Now let's see what we can do, huh, Albion?'

[Yes, Boy, no, Issei.]

'Let's go!' Issei dived directly towards the stray devil.

"Heh, you must be suicidal," the stray devil chuckled as it once again swung it claws at Issei's direction, only for Issei to dodge it more easily than before. Now that Issei had Divine Dividing, he could even maneuver in air.

As he dodged the stray's attack, his hand touched the stray devil for a short time, activating Issei's Sacred Gear's ability.

[Divide!]

"Kuh, this is!" the stray exclaimed as it could feel its power decreasing.

As Issei concentrated, he dodged the stray's increasingly more aggressive attacks while keep decreasing its power through Divide. It seemed the devil had somehow sensed that Issei was now too dangerous for it to face and so intended to end this as soon as possible.

'Steady, steady, now!'

Issei then punched the stray devil at its face with all of his might.

"Gaah!"

"It hasn't ended yet!"

Issei then quickly followed with a kick, imbued with his draconic magic.

[Hey, Issei. Isn't it time to use your spear now?] Albion suddenly said.

'You mean Brionac? How do you know about it?'

[I live within you. How can I not know things like this?]

'I see. Here we go then,' Issei pulled Brionac from his pocket dimension.

[Now try channeling your power into it. By how you finally managed to unlock me, you should be able to at least break one seal now.]

'Okay.'

Channeling his draconic magic into the spear, Issei tried to break the first seal by overloading it with his magic. Of course, the stray devil didn't just stand there doing nothing. Seeing a chance, the it quickly sent out another barrage of attacks towards Issei, only to be dodged.

"Oi, oi, I'm not so stupid to just stand still while preparing my weapon when fighting, alright?" Issei said.

[But you sure act like one, Issei.]

'Agh?! Whose side are you on, Albion?'

[Just pointing out some facts. You clearly inherited that from your father.]

'Guh, whatever. Here we go.'

"Hraah!"

Continuing to overload Brionac's first seal, Issei finally managed to break it. In an instant, Brionac's appearance changed. Its spearhead changed from its initial appearance into one that was longer, thinner, split into two uneven parts, and had serrated edges from the spearhead until the shaft part that was close to the head.

'Damn, that's cool. I wonder what the perfect Brionac look like.'

[Issei.]

'I know. Let's end this already.'

"It's nice seeing you, uh, Ms. Stray Devil. But sadly, our path has to diverge here," Issei said as he once again gathered his magic into the spear.

"Wha?" the stray devil said in confusion, at the same time noticing the building magic power inside the spear.

"Shit!"

"Too late! Let's do this, Albion! Take this! Sá Bán!" Issei shouted as he threw the spear with all of his might at the stray devil who was trying to escape.

The spear went through the stray devil, somehow emitting a bright light in the process, making a small crater and cracks on the floor. Meanwhile, the stray devil's corpse had somehow evaporated from the intense light.

'Damn! I know that since Lugh is the God of Light, Brionac should carry similar properties, and that devils as creature of darkness should have some weakness against light, though not as much as against holy property, but this is ridiculous! To the extent of evaporating the corpse?!'

[Issei, not to burst your bubble or anything, but there are some unknown magical signatures coming here, though I believe that they seem to be devils from their presence. There are 4 of them, I believe. I suggest we get away now before getting ourselves into another mess.]

'I see. Yeah, I agree. Better to call it quit now.'

Issei quickly landed, called off Divine Divider, grabbed Brionac, stored it, and then quickly run away from the manor. As Issei left the manor, the silhouette of someone could be seen from one of the dark alleys not far from there.

"Damn it, kiddo. It told you to be careful in using Brionac, but no, you just had to create something could almost be categorized as a mini-sun and then flaunting all of your powers in the process. *sigh* Be glad that I'm at least here so I could make a barrier to restrict all of your magical power. Oh well, let's just erase the magical residue. My son has just killed his first prey, after all. It's something to be celebrated. I just hope that Tomoe won't get any gist of this," Chrome muttered in annoyance. He then teleported into the manor, waved his hand in order to erase Issei's magical residue in it, and then teleported back into his home.

Not long after Chrome left, 4 shadows could be seen to be landing at the abandoned manor. Once they landed, they hid their bat-like wings, showing that they're devils.

"Huff, we've finally arrived. Why we suddenly can't teleport near the manor?" the one who seemed to be leader of the group said. From the voice, they seemed to be a female.

"Ara, Ara. Looks like we can somehow use our teleportation magic again," another voice said in a playful tone. This one also seemed to be female.

"What?! Really? What actually happened here?" the leader asked to herself as she held her head. A magic circle then appeared right beside her ear.

"Eh! Uh, hello? Um, yes, yes, we're at the location right now. Eeeeh! Uh, okay, okay. Um, nothing's wrong. Alright, your welcome," the leader suddenly exclaimed in loud voice.

"What is it, Buchou?" a different voice, this time seemed to be male in nature, asked his leader.

"Huff, the archduke has just called. He said that the stray devil has been eliminated and then thanked us for it."

"Ara, Ara. but we haven't even done anything yet."

"That's also what I'm thinking, Akeno."

"Then there's someone else who killed it," a new voice, this time also a female, though a bit younger compared to the other two, said.

"You're right, Koneko. And we have to find who is it. If they're friendly, then there's no problem, but if they're somehow hostile, we might get ourselves into a big mess."

* * *

 _Poor Viser. Even until the end, no one knows your name, not that it's important or anything. Anyway,_ _that's the end of this chapter. I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in the writings. As you can see, we now have some action. Expect this to continue until the end of the arc_ _. Lastly, feel free to comment either throught PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._


	5. Chapter IV

_First of all, I'm sorry that this chapter was posted late. My univ gonna start again in a week and I have to prepare for it. With this chapter, we get onto the Fallen Angels arc, so be prepared to meet your favorite nun. Like usual,_ _thank you to all of you that have followed and favorited this story. And now with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter. Happy reading._

* * *

Chapter IV

'*sigh* So much for celebration, eh,' Issei thought tiredly as he once again walked the way to school.

[You know your mother is just worried about you, right? Besides, I agree with her that right now Brionac is too much for you to handle. I think confiscating it for now is the right decision.]

'I know, it's just, it's my first kill, you know. Dad always said that a dragon's first kill is their first step towards adulthood. I suppose I just want it to be memorable.'

[I think having a big dinner with your family is quite memorable. You have a family who cares so much about you, Issei. There are others out there who might be not as fortunate as you.]

Issei instantly reminded of Ana.

'Yeah, you're right, Albion. I guess I should be glad for what I have right now... Hmm?' Issei absent-mindedly thought as he continued to walk, until...

"Ah!"

He saw a nun tripped on the road, with her panties fully shown to the world by how her dress had fallen.

[Issei!]

'I don't see anything! I swear!' Issei answered frantically as he covered his eyes with both of his hands. If he had to admit, he might be a bit perverted and had sort of a big breast fetish, but that didn't mean that he's willing to be as far as taking advantage of another person like this. It's just plain rude and disrespectful, not to mention a bit creepy.

"Ooh... I'm such a klutz. I can't believe I fell down again!" the nun said as she got up and tidied her dress. Only after Issei was sure that the nun's dress was now proper that he uncovered his eyes.

'Is that..., Italian?'

[Yes, it's not uncommon that those who are affiliated with the Church are speaking Italian or Latin. Better be a bit careful, Issei.]

'Hmm,' Issei grunted in confirmation.

"Uh, hey, are you alright?" Issei asked as he decided to help her by offering his hand.

"Huh? Oh, yes, I'm alright," the nun answered as she took Issei's hand up and pulled herself up.

"Um, did you just you speak Italian?" the nun asked.

"Eh? Oh, yeah, my father taught me."

"Oh, where's my manner, my name is Asia Argento. Nice to meet you, uh?"

"My name is Issei, Hyoudou-Dubh Issei. Nice to meet you too."

"Um, actually, I'm a bit lost..., can you help me out, Issei-san?"

"Well, sure, why not? Where do you need to go?"

"Do you know where the church is? I'm assigned to the one in this town."

'Church? The only church here is the one near the forest, but it has been abandoned years ago. Why did the Church only send a nun again now of all times? Suspicious,' Issei thought.

"I know where it is. Come, let me show you," Issei said as Asia began to follow him.

Along the way to the church, they stumbled upon a crying boy whose knee scrapped pretty badly. Going over to the boy, Asia's hands hovered over the boy's wounded knee and glowed a green light.

"Don't cry little one, you're going to be fine." Asia said gently to the boy.

As the light subsided, the boy's knee had already healed. Almost as if there's no wound in the first place. The boy looked amazed as he saw his wound vanish in front of his eyes. Issei, meanwhile, had another feeling altogether.

'Albion, that is-'

[Yes, that's a Sacred Gear. That's the Twilight Healing, if I'm not wrong.]

"There you go. It's all better now, so don't cry, okay?" Asia smiled at the boy.

Once Asia returned to where Issei was, she noticed that Issei was staring at her. Forming an expression that seemed to say, 'please don't ask', Asia just stared back at Issei.

"Well, shall we continue our walk?" Issei asked, choosing to be ignorant of what he had just seen.

"A-ah, yes," Asia stuttered, surprised by Issei's lack of surprises and questions.

[Why didn't you tell her that you know about Sacred Gear?] Albion asked.

'A nun with a Sacred Gear suddenly comes and serves a church that has been abandoned since years ago, don't you think that's too suspicious?' Issei explained.

[Do you think she's dangerous?]

'No, not her. It's those that behind her being sent here that I'm worried about. A church that has been abandoned is used after such a long time. This's a Fallen Angel's scheme, no matter how you see it.'

[So, you think she's an excommunicated nun?]

'Yeah. If I remember correctly, Twilight Healing is a Sacred Gear that is capable of healing any being, including Devils and Fallen Angels. There's a chance that she accidentally healed a Devil or Fallen Angel without she knew about it, hence the reason for her excommunication.'

[I see. I assume you're going to use the spells that your father has taught you?]

'Yeah. In fact, I have already used it when she took my hand back when I helped her. I didn't know whether it's a necessary or not, but I see that's the right decision now.'

"Ah, I can see the church! Thank you for escorting me, Issei-san!" Asia shouted as she saw the shape of the abandoned church, snapping Issei out of his conversation with Albion.

"Ah, yeah. Is it fine if I leave you now? I still have school," Issei said apologetically.

"Oh, although I want to invite you in first for a tea," Asia said sadly.

"It's fine. Maybe sometimes?" Issei said.

"Alright! It's a promise then!" Asia exclaimed happily.

"Okay, see you later, Asia," Issei waved his hand.

* * *

[Do you intend to fulfill that promise?] Albion asked as Issei walked to his home after he got out of school.

'Of course, why not? True, Fallen Angels might attack me, but I've learned how to suppress my magic signature. And even if they attack, albeit Brionac is confiscated for the moment, I can still use enhancement magic that Dad taught me,' Issei replied.

[That's true...]

As they walked through the neighborhood, Issei suddenly stopped as he walked near to one of the house.

'Albion, this smell is-!'

[... Blood.]

Running quickly to the source of the smell, Issei passed through a barrier situated around a house.

'What the?! Barrier?!'

[Issei, the door is opened. Better tread carefully,] Albion warned Issei in his mind. Heeding the warning, Issei tensed and walked slowly into the house. As he got into the living room, he saw a mangled corpse of a man crucified to a wall. Surprised, but not panicked, Issei instantly calmed his mind and focused his attention to his surroundings.

'Inhale, exhale, repeat. Do not panic. Just do it like when I trained with Dad,' Issei thought as he inspected the room for any clues to what might have happened.

"*whistle* Impressive. A normal being might have retched out his intestine when he saw this sight. Pray tell, who are you? I saw you noticed the barrier, meaning that you can sense magic, but I'm not really sure from what race you are. How about you be a kind boy and tell me, will ya?" a voice sounded out from the shadows.

As the voice's owner stepped out, Issei could see a white-haired man wearing what appeared to be priest's clothes, a crazed expression on his face.

'This is bad. I can see that he is dangerous, and I still know nothing about what actually happened. Better stall some time,' Issei thought.

"Well, I'm a human if it's not obvious. Though if we were talk about faction, then you can say I belong with the Fallen faction," Issei decided to act nonchalantly.

"Really? How so?" the white-haired man asked, interested.

"Well, I'm not really part of the faction, if that's what you're asking. It's just that Azazel once saved my life from a devil."

"Saved from a devil? Ah, you must be that one guy that those bitches are ordered to protect then. I wonder why Azazel ordered those bitches to protect human such as you. You might be conscious to the supernatural, but I don't see any reason why Azazel might want to protect you."

"Even if you say that, I also don't know why the Governor of the Grigori wants to protect me," Issei lied. The truth was he did have an idea on why Azazel might want to protect him, probably because of a certain silver-haired devil, but the man opposite of him didn't need to know that.

"I see. Well, I think it's enough for the pleasantries, don't you think?"

"Really? Won't you have problems if the higher ups know?

"*snort* You know what they said, no corpses, no murder. Ah, hah, hah, hah!" the man then suddenly charged at Issei, pulling a sword handle that turned into light sword and a gun.

[Issei!]

'Yeah, I know,' Issei thought as he dodged the attack.

"Crúba," Issei whispered as his magic circle appeared and his mana covered his hands, forming claws made of white and black-colored energy. He then retaliated against the man using his claws, surprising the stray exorcist.

"*whistle* Now that's something you don't see every day. Alright, now I'm convinced you're not a part of the three factions, but you also don't belong with humans. What are you really?" as the priest broke out of the scuffle.

"Well, I can't tell you that now, can I? But just so you know, I'm half human," Issei answered.

"Really? Well, no matter. You'll still die anyway! By the hands of Freed Sellzen!" the mad priest shouted as he let loose a barrage of blessed bullets at Issei.

'Shit!' Issei thought as he frantically dodged the bullets and parried the bullets that he couldn't dodged. Yet, a stray bullet managed to hit Issei at his shoulder. Expecting some pain, Issei's surprised when he saw only his clothes that were shredded, and a bruise formed on where he was shot. Even Freed showed a dumbfounded expression on what had just transpired.

'Albion, what happened?'

[I don't know, Issei. True, if it's a normal bullet, it will only leave a bruise due to how strong dragon's skin is, but this is a blessed bullet. Maybe...,] Albion didn't finish his words as the stray priest spoke again.

"Hm..., interesting, apparently my bullets don't work on you. I wonder why?" Freed said out loud with an intrigued expression and tilted head.

"Well, now what? Want to continue this?" Issei said as he got into his fighting stance again.

"... Nah, even I know that I'm at a disadvantage right now," Freed nonchalantly said with another mad grin on his face. A magic circle then appeared beneath his feet, no doubt for his escape.

[Issei!] Albion said.

'I know,' Issei replied.

"Don't you dare run away, you damned priest!" Issei shouted as he tried to grab the stray priest.

"See you again for another time, rare kind. Since I really want to be the one to take your head. Ka, ha, ha." Freed then disappeared with a mad laugh as Issei went past him.

'Shit!'

[Issei, what is our next move?] Albion asked.

'I think we should return to Dad first. I have some idea on what's going on, but I want to hear Dad's thoughts first on all of this,' Issei answered. With that settled, he quickly left the place after erasing his traces, not noticing a red-colored magic circle that appeared as he left.

* * *

 _I presume all of you are able to guess whose magic circle that appeared at the end. The reason that I chose to confiscate Brionac is because it's too OP for Issei right now, and believe me, by using that he would be able to easily steamrolled his way up to Summit Arc._ _Anyway,_ _that's the end of this chapter. I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in the writings. F_ _eel free to comment either throught PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._


	6. Chapter V

_Hello, everyone. Sorry for the one week late chapter. My right shoulder dislocated last Sunday and somehow it also caused immense cramps on my right upper back area's muscles, which makes it really painful to sit and look down since it stretched the necks's muscle, making it much more painful than before. But that's about my back. Today I'm finally 20 years old, and so I'm gonna port not one, but two more chapters after this in approximately two days duration after this, so be prepared. As usual, thank you for those who have favorited and followed this chapter. Happy Reading._

* * *

Chapter V

It all began with a shout.

"WHAT IN HELL DO YOU MEAN THAT OUR SON HAS TO GO THERE ALONE?!" Tomoe shouted at her husband.

[Issei, your mother is scary,] Albion said to Issei in the latter's mind.

'Well, she is a mother. I think scary is in their job description,' Issei said back.

[But this has been going on for two days...,] Albion sweat dropped.

'Well, we certainly can't do anything unless Dad and Mom reach a compromise...,' Issei replied.

"I told you, Tomoe, it's dragon's tradition to let their hatchlings experience the world themselves. We as parents may be able to prepare him as much as we can, but we can't give him any help directly in his journey," Chrome patiently said to his wife.

"But he's our son, Chrome. Dammit, what if he is hurt?!" Tomoe shouted again as fire could be seen in her eyes and on her arms as her anger increased.

'Whoa, all this while, I thought I was hallucinating when I saw Mom's arms on fire when she's angry. Looks like I wasn't,' Issei thought as he saw the fire on his mother's arms increased in intensity.

[Issei, just who is your mother?] Albion asked.

'I also want to know, Albion,' Issei replied as they both watched the argument only became worse. Deciding to end it, Issei opened his mouth.

"Don't worry about me, Mom. I will be fine," Issei said, causing his mother's fiery stares to move to him.

[Uh, Issei? I don't think that's a wise decision...,] Albion said.

Stepping closer to his son, Tomoe then grabbed Issei's shoulders so tight that somehow it hurt his dragon's physique.

"Ow, don't worry, Mom. I won't get hurt," Issei said to calm his mother down.

"Are you sure? Can you really promise me that you won't even get a single scratch?" Tomoe asked with slightly teary eyes.

"Well... maybe not exactly scratch-less... But I will be fine, I promise," Issei said again.

"Uugh... *sob* *sob* Argh! You two are just the worst!" with that Tomoe released Issei's shoulders and ran to the second floor.

'Ugh, now I feel really bad,' Issei thought.

[*snort* Good job, Issei. Even I never make my mother cries,] Albion scoffed at his host.

'Hahaha, not helping, Albion,' Issei sarcastically replied. At that moment, Chrome decided to speak to Issei.

"*sigh* I think you might have known it, but your mother is just really worried for you. Having you in the middle of dangerous situation like this is the first for her," Chrome explained.

"The one ten years ago and the one with stray devil don't count?" Issei asked as he lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, those got resolved in one sitting, so she didn't know about them until they ended, but this time is different. She will have to sit here waiting as you confronted your enemies. It's normal that she's on edge because of it," Chrome explained further.

"I see...," Issei said as he looked down.

"Tch, don't worry about that," Chrome then smacked Issei's back, eliciting a "Woah!" from the young man.

"Now, go out there and give those crows a good beating, alright?!" Chrome said with a bloodthirsty grin.

"*smirk* Don't worry, I will," Issei replied as he sported an equal grin.

As he watched Issei left the house, Chrome couldn't help but to think about the past 10 years.

"Heh, that boy might be a lot more like me than I realized. *chuckle* Ah..., how I pity those crows. Well, better prepare for the celebration then," Chrome said as he went to the kitchen. Suddenly, Tomoe's voice could be heard from upstairs.

"Chrome, if Issei is even the slightest bit hurt when he came back, you will sleep outside until new year. Do you understand?"

Frozen in his steps, Chrome replied stiffly, "I understand, honey..."

"Good," Tomoe's voice then could no longer be heard.

'*gulp* Issei, for the sake of both of us, you must return home unharmed," Chrome thought as he could feel cold sweats appearing.

* * *

'Alright, based on what we have seen so far we can conclude a few things,' Issei thought.

[First is that the abandoned church must has been occupied by the Fallen without anyone knowing,] Albion said.

'Yeah, Asia and that stray exorcist Freed must also have come here because of the Fallen. We can safely assume then there must be other stray exorcists at the church, their base of operation.'

[But what's their purpose here? It doesn't seem like their objective has anything to do with the town.]

'Well, who knows? But we will surely know soon-,' Issei's thought was cut off as three shadows were flying towards him.

[Issei!]

'Shit!'

As Issei got into a fighting stance though, the shadows turned out to be three wounded fallen angels. Their wings were injured with lots of black feathers were torn off here and there. One of them, the one in the middle that Issei thought as the leader, was a female fallen angel that had the appearance that was close to his age, with long black hair, dark purple eyes, and wearing an outfit with dominatrix theme, leaving nothing to imagination. The other two were a blonde young girl wearing gothic Lolita outfit and a blue-haired woman wearing a trench coat.

[Issei...,] Albion said in a warning tone.

'I'm not looking at anything, I swear!' Issei replied as he tried really hard to look anywhere but the dominatrix-like outfit.

"Are you the one named Hyoudou-Dubh Issei?" the black haired fallen then spoke.

Alarmed, Issei replied, "How do you know my name?"

"*chuckle* Asia told me quite a lot about the boy that helped her, and besides, my father also told me quite a lot about you," the girl answered.

"Your father?" Issei put on a confused expression.

"Ah, yeah, I forgot to tell my name, right? *chuckle* Nice to meet you, Hyoudou-Dubh Issei. My name is Raynare, daughter of Azazel and Penemue of the Grigori, while the blonde girl and blue-haired woman behind me are Mittelt and Kalawarner," the girl, Raynare, answered with a naughty smirk. It took Issei a few seconds to process the statement.

"Say what?! That Azazel?! The one that is known to be able to rival Fafnir in perverseness?!" Issei said out loud, resulting in a tick mark appearing on Raynare's head.

"And just like what my father guessed. Apparently, you're so alike your father, huh, Hyoudou-Dubh-san?" Raynare said with angry tone.

"Ah? Sorry out that," Issei apologized.

"Huff... Even though we're giving it our all to tell you about Kokabiel's plan..." Raynare spoke again.

"What? Kokabiel?" Issei asked with a confused expression.

"*sigh* You must know about the Cadres of Grigori, right?" Raynare said exasperatedly.

"Yeah, I know. There're Azazel, Penemue, Shemhazai, Baraqiel, Kokabiel, Armaros, Sahariel, and Tamiel, right?" Issei replied.

"Yes, indeed. And amongst them, Kokabiel is known as the most radical and aggressive, along with his followers. Just a few weeks ago he said about finding a lone Sacred Gear holder, and so intended to invite them to join the Fallen Angel," Raynare explained.

"I see. I presume the Sacred Gear holder is Asia then? But what happened to you?" Issei asked.

"When Kokabiel came up with this plan at the last Grigori's meeting, my father got suspicious and although he approved of it, he asked me and my friends to find out if Kokabiel has any hidden agendas. Suffice to say, he does, and that he has already known about our roles as spies, hence our condition now," Raynare explained further.

"Tch, that bastard Dohnaseek. I swear I will have my revenge," the blue-haired fallen angel, Kalawarner, said.

"*sigh* Be grateful we're still alive, Kalawarner. If not because of Raynare we will be roasted crows by now," the blonde, Mittelt, said.

"Only you can be grateful in a situation like this, Mittelt," Kalawarner replied.

"Wait, what actually this Kokabiel planned? And how can it be detrimental for the Fallen Angel?" Issei asked.

"Hyoudou-Dub-san, do you know the purpose of the Grigori?" Raynare asked back.

"Uh, it's the governing body of the Fallen Angel, right?" Issei answered unsurely.

"Yes, your answer can be said as correct. But Grigori also has another purpose, to watch over and protect the holder of the Sacred Gears, especially those who are alone and helpless. And what Kokabiel planned to do is the opposite of this purpose," Raynare answered.

"How so?"

"Because he intends to steal Asia Argento's Sacred Gear, the Twilight Healing."

"What?! It can be done?!" Issei exclaimed.

"Yes, through a specific ritual, one's Sacred Gear can be moved to another's possession. Yet, it's not without its own sacrifice. The original owner of the Sacred Gear... will die," Raynare answered.

"What?!"

'Asia... will die...?' Issei thought as he remembered the blonde nun that he couldn't help but think as a little sister.

[Issei,] Albion finally spoke again after all this time, now with a resolute tone.

'Yeah, I know,' Issei replied to Albion. As Issei opened his mouth to say something to Raynare though, Raynare spoke first.

"Please, Hyoudou-Dubh-san, I know, I know this might be unbecoming of me, but please, save Asia. I may have only known Asia for a short time, but, but she's a dear friend of mine, so please, save her," Raynare begged while bowing her head.

"Please," Kalawarner and Mittelt followed her example.

'Well, I certainly can't just deny their request now, can I? Not like I'm going to deny it in the first place,' Issei thought.

"Uh, please, lift your head. Having three beautiful girls lowering their heads for me is quite heavy for my conscience. Besides, whether you ask me or not, I'm still going to save Asia. She's a friend, after all, and dragons always protect their packs," Issei said.

"Fu, fu, fu. Beautiful, he says. Raynare, looks like Ishaq has a rival, don't you think?" Kalawarner teased as she and the others lifted their heads.

"Stop it, Kalawarner. You know as well as I do that Hyoudou-Dubh-san here only has his eyes on Valiana-chan, right, Hyoudou-Dubh-san?" Raynare asked Issei.

"Eh? Uh, what? Wait, what?" Issei dumbfoundedly replied.

"Fu, fu, fu. Alright then, Hyoudou-Dubh-san, we shall take our leave," Raynare said as she and the other two fallen angels started to disappear through the use of magic circles.

"Huh? Wait, did you just say Valiana?! Do you know her? How is she right now?" Issei frantically asked.

"Fu, fu, fu. Why don't you find out yourself, Hyoudou-Dubh-san? Don't worry though, she is fine and looking forward to see you again," Raynare replied as she disappeared.

"... So, she's fine... I'm glad...," Issei said with a relieved expression.

[Issei, now is not the time for this,] Albion said to Issei.

'Yeah, you're right. We should focus on saving Asia right now. Who knows when the ritual will begin,' Issei replied.

Focusing his mana to his legs, Issei once again used his enhancement magic.

"Cosa," Issei said as his magic circle appeared, and his legs were covered in familiar white-and-black-colored energy.

"Alright, here we go," Issei said as he dashed quickly towards the hill where the infested church was situated.

'Asia, hold on.'

* * *

 _So, that's the end of the chapter. I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in the grammar or writing. Feel free to comment via review or PM._

 _May We Meet Again._


	7. Chapter VI

_And here comes the first extra chapter. This was supposed to be out at Monday, but difficulties with the spellings made me rechecked them again that took a whole day. As usual, thank you for those that have favorited and followed this story. Happy Reading._

* * *

Chapter VI

Issei was running towards the church as fast as he could when he noticed the barrier surrounding the church and one other detail that even other supernatural beings might not notice. The only reason Issei noticed it was because for his sensitive draconic sense, the first supernatural being's scent he first smelled was a devil, and so it could be said that he's extremely sensitive for the species' scent. And indeed, it was a devil that he sensed.

"You, who are you? Come out, you're a devil, aren't you?" Issei said as he stopped before the small forest that was surrounding the abandoned church.

At first, no one appeared, but then a person appeared from behind the trees. The person was a young man with a dark green hair and closed eyes. Though he appeared to be just like a normal teenager, Issei had no doubt that the person in question was a devil.

"So, you have showed yourself? Who are you? And what is your purpose here? Are you with the fallen angels?" Issei confronted. Meanwhile, the devil just smiled in response while his eyes were still closed.

"Hey, I am ask-" Issei tried to say before being cut off.

"Are all humans impolite like you? Just asking and confronting other people that you haven't met before, isn't that a bad thing to do? I wonder how my beloved Asia managed to make an acquaintance such as you?" The devil said while still smiling, though it's clear he's mocking Issei.

Stunned in response, Issei decided to apologize, "Ugh... *sigh* Sorry 'bout that, I have a bad experience with a devil once and I guess all of this fiasco is stressing on me."

"Oh? A bad experience with a devil? With you still alive and well in the end? I guess you're just like any other human then?" The devil's tone now changed into one of curiosity.

"Well, I guess. But right now, we're talking about you, right? The devil that was once saved by Asia Argento?" Issei asked.

From the slip of the devil's smile, Issei knew that his guess was spot on.

"How do you know?" The devil's tone now became serious.

"What do you think I've been doing for these past two days? Of course I would research about any possible enemies that I might encounter if I have the time. I know that Freed Sellzen is an artificial human created by the Sigurd Institute, and that Asia's excommunication from the Church is because she healed you in the past, am I right?" Issei said.

"Hmm... looks like I have to take back my opinion on you, human. It seems you're smarter than you appeared to be." The devil said.

"Heh, I get that a lot. So, devil-san, what is your purpose here?" Issei asked.

"Do you need to ask? Saving my beloved Asia, of course." The devil answered.

"By yourself?"

"Why do you think I'm laying low here? With how many those insects gathering around the blasted church, it'd be a hard job even for me to infiltrate the church and save my beloved Asia." The devil scoffed.

"I see... Then, how about we work together? It'll be better if we help each other, right?" Issei offered.

"And what's in it for you?" The devil asked.

"Well, Asia is my friend, and the pack always watch each other. Besides, it'd be hard for a stalker like you to do all of this by yourself, right?"

"Stalker?! Why you..." The devil said while holding back his anger.

"Oh, don't worry, it's not something bad for me. In fact, stalking is one of the quite sophisticated and hard way to court one's mate. One can't get too close, and yet also obviously can't get too far. Knowing to look for the opportunity and then strike at the right time." Issei nodded sagely.

"...You're not a human, aren't you?" The devil sweat dropped.

"Duh, did you just realize it?" Issei retorted.

"*sigh*Whatever. At least this means you are probably useful." The devil sighed in exasperation.

He then offered his hand.

"Diodora Astaroth." The now identified devil said.

Taking the offered hand, Issei replied, "Hyoudou-Dubh Issei."

Noticing how Issei's lack of reaction to his name, Diodora let out a small genuine smile that was unnoticed by the former.

"Then, shall we, Hyoudou-Dubh-san?"

* * *

Hiding among the trees, Issei and Diodora observed the stray priests and the rogue mages that guarded the church's perimeter.

"Damn, I don't expect they also bring the rogue mages." Issei said.

"I thought you said you did your research." Diodora deadpanned.

"I did. I just didn't expect them to be here since I was of the mind that this's a discreet operation. Rogue mages and their magic are just not really subtle in my opinion." Issei replied.

"... Did you just make a pun?" Diodora deadpanned again.

"I know it's a bad joke. Can you do something about the magic with your clan powers, Akashic Formula?" Issei asked.

"Oh, it seems you're quite informed regarding my clan." Diodora raised an eyebrow.

"I like being informed of my potential enemies, thank you." Issei replied.

"Hmm, good reasoning. And the answer is, I can. I can negate their magic using my clan power, but I can't do the same against the stray exorcists' light swords. My brother hasn't taught me that far." Diodora said.

"I can handle the exorcists. Your brother?" Issei asked.

"It's a long story, and we better be hurry. It's been two days since Asia got here, and if not for the crows that helped her, Asia won't be alive for this long." Diodora said in a serious tone.

"You're right. Crúba." Issei said in a similar manner as the familiar claws formed on his hands.

"Ah, draconic enhancement. So that's what you are. Alright, let's go."

Both of them then charged towards the church's perimeter. The guards, not expecting the surprise attack from trespassers, only two no less, hurriedly readied themselves. As the mages preparing their spells, Issei signaled Diodora, prompting the devil to use his power to negate the spells through sheer calculation. Issei on the other hand, went straight to the middle of the enemies and started to wreak havoc there using his claws, bisecting any that went near him, with Diodora also giving air support through his own spells.

[Issei, are you alright?] Albion suddenly asked as Issei cut apart an exorcist into two.

'... Not really. Even after what Dad did to prepare me, I'm still uncomfortable with having to kill any other beings,' Issei answered.

[But you do know that it might only become worse from now on, don't you?]

'Yeah. If I do intent to protect Ana, especially from that bastard, then this will be something I might have to do, reluctant or not. Even if my future is drenched dark in blood, if it's for her, I will do it.'

[... Good determination, Issei. Then I shall help you.]

"[Dragon Divider!]" both Issei and Albion shouted as they summoned Divine Dividing, causing surprise among their enemies. Diodora meanwhile, although also surprised, managed to get his back his bearing and once again attacked the enemies. With the added help of Divine Dividing, they managed to kill all of the stray exorcists and rogue mages in no time.

"Quick, to the church basement!" Diodora shouted.

Destroying the church's door and the altar hiding the secret stairs leading to the basement using his claws, Issei and Diodora arrived to see a Fallen Angel wearing a trench coat and a fedora hat, presumably Dohnaseek, and the last stray exorcist, Freed Sellzen, standing in front of a crucified Asia. Fortunately, she seemed to be still alive, only unconscious.

"See? I told you, Dohnaseek, the brat will come. I don't expect the addition though." Freed smirked.

"Tch, if not because of that spoiled girl, we should have succeeded by now." Dohnaseek grunted.

"Diodora, which one will you take?" Issei asked.

"The crow. I hope you can handle the stray, Dubh." Diodora replied.

"Absolutely." Issei said as he sported a bloodthirsty grin not unlike his father.

"Then let's go."

Charging towards their respective opponent, Issei readied his claws as Diodora prepared his spells. Wielding his light sword, Freed clashed with Issei. It seemed after the last fight where he found out that Issei's immune to the holy bullets, Freed decided to stick to the melee. Meanwhile Issei, who knew that he didn't have much time, decided to forego his usual combat style and change into a more parry-based stance, hoping that it would help in defeating Freed faster.

"Ke, he, he, he. This time you will really die, rare kind." Freed chuckled maniacally as he aimed at Issei's midsection.

"I'm the one who is supposed to kill you, damn lunatic. It's payback time." Issei replied as he dodged the strike and aimed at the stray exorcist's right hand, hoping to cripple the latter's sword hand.

"Pfft, you wish. I'll make sure to disembowel you and that shitty devil and make you see me raping that bitch's corpse after Dohnaseek's done with her." Freed taunted as he struck at Issei's left side.

Knowing that the madman was trying to provoke him, Issei stayed silent as he dodged the blow and returned the attack. This continued for a while, but with constant Divide from Divine Dividing, it's clear that Freed was reaching his limit.

"Shit... No, no, I'm not going to fall here. Graaaah!" Freed then went on a desperate strike aimed at Issei's heart, no noticing that he overreached himself in the process.

[Issei!]

'Yeah...'

"Cosa." Issei whispered as the draconic enhancement appeared on his legs. Quickly sidestepping the exorcist's attack, Issei went to his enemy's back with speed boost from the enhancement.

"But you're exactly going to fall here, Freed." Issei replied as his clawed right hand went into Freed's back and grasping his beating heart.

"Goodbye." Issei said as he crushed the heart. As he released the dying madman, he could hear a whispered denial from the exorcist's mouth as the latter bleed out to death. Staring at the corpse with a regretful expression on his face, Issei quickly snapped himself out from his stupor.

Looking towards the other fight, Issei could see that while the fight wasn't as one-sided as his, it's still one-sided nonetheless. Every light spears that Dohnaseek launched at Diodora quickly got dispelled using Akashic Formula, and while some of Diodora's spells missed, much more of them hit their target.

"Kuuh, impossible. How, how can I be defeated by a lowly devil?" Dohnaseek grunted in denial as he covered his bleeding stomach.

"Ku, hu, hu. let me answer you then. This lowly devil is Diodora Astaroth, the heir of the Astaroth clan, and the younger brother of Ajuka Beelzebub, the current Beelzebub." Diodora answered with unconcealed mirth.

"Wha..." Dohnaseek lost his words at what he had just heard.

"And seeing that my companion has finished, maybe we should also finish this charade." Diodora continued as he formed many magic circles that caged in the Fallen Angel.

"Akashic Formula. Calculate: Light Spears. Analyze. Modify: Dark Spears." Diodora chanted as the green-colored dark version of the Fallen Angels' light spears appeared from the magic circles.

"N-no!" Dohnaseek screamed as his body was impaled by Diodora's countless spears, reducing him into what appeared to be just a single feather once Diodora ended his onslaught.

"Goodbye, crow." Diodora sneered as he folded his wings and landed.

"Oi, Astaroth, if you can do that why not finish him earlier and help me?" Issei asked with an annoyed tone.

"Well, truthfully, I can't even do that instantly. I need time to calculate, analyze and modify the ability. And besides, I still want to see how far is your capability, and even then, know I know you're still hiding your full powers." Diodora answered.

"... Fair enough." Issei admitted.

"C'mon, Dubh, we don't have enough time. I know you can smell the devils that ae coming here, and I know what is their intention. I won't let my beloved Asia to be reincarnated into such a lowly peerage." Diodora said condescendingly, but Issei could smell that his statement of protecting Asia from his fellow devils was sincere.

"Alright, alright." Issei complied as he broke the chains holding Asia to the cross. Stepping to teleportation magic circle that Diodora had created while holding the unconscious Asia, the three of them then disappeared from the church's basement.

Not a moment after that, four devils that Issei had smelled and Diodora had detected arrived at the place. One of them was the red-haired Rias Gremory, while the other was the black haired Himejima Akeno. The last girl of the group was the short, white haired Toujou Koneko, the so-called mascot of Kuoh Academy. And the last member of the group, and the only male, was a young man with short blonde hair, bluish gray eyes, and mole under his left eye. Kiba Yuuto, the famously named Prince of Kuoh Academy.

"Buchou, it seems we're too late." the short girl, Koneko, said.

"Yeah, I can sense the leftover magic here. The just left a moment ago. And one of them at least is a devil. It seems we've been outraced. Akeno, can you detect where they teleported to?" Rias asked.

"I'm sorry, Buchou. But the user of the magic circle must be a really strong mage, I can't detect his destination." Akeno said in a sad tone while shaking her head.

"I see... if only the barrier hasn't prevented us from teleporting in... Yuuto, do you know how many people did all of this?"

"Hmm... from what I see, we're talking about at least two people. One magic-oriented and one melee-oriented. I assume the devil is the magic-user. The melee-user is not using any conventional weapons, however. Those wounds... these kinds of injuries are caused by claws, meaning we're probably not talking about a normal being, even by supernatural standard." Kiba answered.

Those answers just made the distressed Rias much more unnerved. As she bit her nails, she muttered.

"First the Stray Devil, now the Fallen Angels. What actually happened here?"

* * *

 _So that's the end of the chapter. Before anyone asking, yes, that's Diodora, and no, I won't tell you whether this Diodora is a bastard or not. Sorry if the fighting scenes are too bland, I'm not really good at fighting scenese, and sorry for any writing mistakes. The next chapter will be the last chapter for the Fallen Angel arc, which probably will be out on Friday. Feel free to comment via PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._


	8. Chapter VII

_I'M ALIVE! Yes, I'm not dead as probably many of you might think. A combination of dislocated bones, many homeworks, and Chinese New Year made me unable to post this chapter that was supposed to be up one month ago until now. I know that many of you are eager for the chapter so I will keep this short. One reader has tried to guess Tomoe's identity, but whether it's true or not, I'll leave that to you. Like usual, thank you for those who have followed and favorited this story, I really appreciate it. This chapter marks the end of the Fallen Angel arc. Now, with that out of the way, let's get to the chapter, shall we? Happy Reading._

 _P.S. I own nothing except the modified characters and the plot._

* * *

Chapter VII

As the teleport was done, Issei, Diodora, and the unconscious Asia arrived at the part of the forest near where Issei met Diodora for the first time. Diodora quickly checked Asia's condition.

"How is she?" Issei asked.

"... She's fine, just unconscious. The most important question is what we are going to with her now," Diodora replied.

"What about you? What are you going to do?" Issei asked again.

"Well, the initial plan is to rescue her silently under those crows' noses and to hide her in Hell. But now I know that it won't do any good for her when we think about her status as a human, even one with a Sacred Gear," Diodora replied.

"Can't you do something?"

"Well, I can use my Evil Pieces to turn her to a devil, but that will make me no different than those devils that chase after her, don't you think?"

"Hm... I see... Well, I guess you pass," Issei said.

"Huh, wait what?" Diodora asked in confusion.

"I just want to see how sincere your feeling to Asia, and I guess you're really serious about her. So how about you let Asia live in my house, maybe my parents will even adopt her, and you can visit her everytime you want to," Issei nonchalantly offered.

"... What?" Diodora was really surprised that he opened his usually closed green eyes.

"So, how about it? Do you accept my offer?" Issei asked.

"Wait, so that question at the start is just a test?" Diodora asked dumbfoundedly.

"What else? I just want to check whether you're really serious about Asia or not. Like I said, the pack is the most important thing for a dragon, remember?" Issei replied.

"... What if, what if it turns out I'm not sincere towards Asia? What will you do?" Diodora asked, still with his eyes opened.

"Hm... Well, better not dwell on it, it won't be pretty for you anyway. Now c'mon, carry Asia with you. We're going to slip past those devils and go to my house while they're still in the abandoned church," Issei said as he turned around.

"Eh?"

"Of course you're the one to carry her. Who's courting Asia, anyway?" Issei asked cheekily.

"... Dubh...," Diodora glowered.

"Just shut up and carry her, Astaroth," Issei said with a smirk as he walked away. The sullen Astaroth then followed after him while carrying Asia.

* * *

Soon enough, they arrived at the Hyoudou-Dubh household. The first thing that happened was Tomoe fussing over her son and Chrome congratulating Issei for finishing his enemies just like he would have done. Fortunately, since Issei actually managed to get home unscratched, both he and Chrome were safe from Tomoe's wrath, and Chrome didn't have to sleep on the couch until new year.

They only noticed the unconscious Asia and Diodora after that. Issei gave Diodora a glare that told him not to tell anyone what had happened because what his mother had done was clearly embarassing and no one needed to know it.

But that didn't mean only Issei went through such things though. After Issei explained what had happened, Diodora went through what he would later said as "in-laws interrogation", because since Issei's parents actually went through his idea on adopting Asia, she could be said as Issei's sister, and therefore, Issei could be called as Diodora's brother-in-law to be, a fact that somehow amused Issei to no end. At that moment, Diodora was really grateful that he's actually serious about Asia, because he now could imagine what Issei said earlier about it wouldn't end well for him in case he wasn't sincere. But before the adoption idea could be finalised, Asia needed to wake up first.

* * *

It was a few hours later that Asia regained his consciousness.

"Asia, are you alright?" Issei asked in worry.

"H-huh, Issei-san? W-where am I?" Asia asked in confusion.

"Right now you're in my house, Asia. What is the last thing that you remember?" Issei asked.

"I-I remember Dohnaseek-san and Father Freed trying to take my Sacred Gear through some ritual, and then when Raynare-san and the others found out, they tried to stop them but then got injured and forced to run away. Oh, right, w-what happened to Raynare-san and the others?! A-are they alright?!" Asia hurriedly asked.

"Don't worry, Asia, they're fine. I last saw them getting back to the Grigori after telling me what happened to you," Issei answered.

"R-really? I'm glad...," Asia said in relief.

"B-but, what about Dohnaseek-san, Father Freed, and the others? What happened to them?" Asia continued asking.

"We exterminated them. That's happened," Diodora said as he appeared on the room.

"Y-you are... *gasp* Devil-san?!" Asia gasped in surprise.

"... Ahhh, my beloved Asia, you don't know how glad I'm to hear that you still remember me. Truly, my feelings are not unlike those flowers who-," Diodora was cut off in the middle of his cheesy monologue by Issei who hit his head.

"Stop spouting nonsense, Astaroth. Look, she's clearly confused and embarassed," Issei said, pointing at the red-faced Asia.

"Hmph, she's clearly just shy after not meeting this handome self after a long time, you uncultured brute. You clearly don't know how to be romantic, Dubh," Diodora replied.

"Are looking for fight, Astaroth?" Issei taunted.

"Heh, bring it on, Dubh," Diodora replied.

"E-ehhh, p-please don't fight," Asia tried to separate the two idiots.

"That's right, you two. You're in front of a lady, so act like gentlemen, will you?!" A pair of iron fans then descended and hit both Issei's and Diodora's heads.

"Gah!" both of them cried in pain.

"A-ah, you are...?" Asia asked.

"It's nice to see you finally awake, Asia-chan. My name is Hyoudou-Dubh Tomoe, this idiot boy's mother. You can just call me Tomoe," the now identified Tomoe gently introduced herself to Asia.

"Issei-san's mother?" Asia asked.

"Yes, and the one over there is my huband, Issei's father, Chrome Dubh. Like me, you can just call him Chrome," Tomoe looked at Chrome who was standing a bit far from there since he could see that his wife was still a bit irritated from their son's earlier antics and that it would be safer for now to put a short distance from his wife.

"It's nice to finally see you, Asia. Issei told us a lot about you," Chrome said.

"Eh? Issei-san did?" Asia asked in confusion.

"I bring the unconscious you here, thinking that you might need treatment. Mom and Dad are the ones to heal you," Issei answered after he managed to soothe the pain.

"A-ah, I see. Um, nice to meet you too, Tomoe-san, Chrome-san. And... thank you for treating me," Asia thanked the couple while smiling.

Tomoe who just stayed silent for a couple of second then suddenly squealed and hugged Asia, prompting an "E-ehhhh" from the nun.

"W-what's wrong, Tomoe-san? U-um, d-did I just said something wrong?" Asia asked in worry.

"No, no, no, no, nothing's wrong. It's just, you're just too cute. Chrome, we definitely have to keep her! Please!" Tomoe just kept squealing as she hugged Asia's close to her 110cm breasts.

"... Somehow I'm a bit jealous," Chrome absentmindedly said. "Oh, wait, what the hell am I saying... *cough* Well, since Tomoe asked it, why not? How about you, Asia, do you mind?" Chrome asked.

"Eh?! Um, before that, can I know what Devil-san means by extermination? *gasp* A-are you saying that-?!"

"...We killed them, Asia, all of them. I finished Freed myself as Astaroth finished Dohnaseek," Issei grimly said.

"B-but... couldn't we at least resolve it peacefully?" Asia asked as tears started to appear on her eyes.

"Asia...," Issei said in sadness.

Sighing, Diodora kneeled and took Asia's hand in his.

"My beloved Asia, I know that you hate bloodshed, but please know that we, me, only did this for your safety. If they managed to complete the ritual, you would die as your very life is connected to your Sacred Gear. While it's true that Dubh helped me, even without his help I would still try to save you, regardless of the consequences. You saved my life once, Asia, and for that, I'm willing to fight against all of the Three Factions for you," Diodora said gently.

"Devil-san...," Asia said in disbelief.

"Please, call me Diodora. After all, it's my name, Diodora Astaroth," Diodora said.

"Diodora-san... Why? Why doing all of this just for me?" Asia asked, now crying.

"Because I love you, of course, beloved Asia. Isn't that obvious?" Diodora gently smiled with his eyes opened.

"W-wha?" Asia squeaked while her face turned red.

"I know that this might feel so sudden for you, but please know that I've been in love with you ever since all those years ago when you saved me. I know that you might want to have time to think about it, but please, can you at least give me a chance to bring you to a few dates?" Diodora asked.

Not knowing what to say, Asia turned to Issei, silently asking for his opinion.

"*sigh* Just accept it, Asia," Issei answered. "While the guy is annoying and a bit of a jerk -" "Hey!" "- I personally think he is a good guy. Isn't that right, Astaroth?" Issei turned to Diodora who just stared at the former with murderous stare due to his earlier comment.

After hearing Issei's opinion, Asia thought for a while before giving her answer. "Um, a-alright, then I'll be in your care, Diodora-san," Asia said with a really red face. At her answer, Diodora just let out a really big smile.

"Aaaa! I'm just going to have a daughter but she's already getting a boyfriend! Oh, oh, we should pick some clothes for you to wear at your dates, Asia-chan!" Tomoe energetically said as she hugged Asia again.

'Sister... Boyfriend... Somehow I regretted saying that to Asia...,' Issei silently thought.

'Daughter... Boyfriend... Somehow I want fill that devil full of holes with my shotgun... Wait, what am I talking about, I don't have shotgun,' Chrome then tried to clear his mind.

[Urgh, wonderful. Turns out my host and his father are overprotective. This isn't going to end well,] Albion whispered to himself.

After managing to clear his mind, Chrome coughed and then continued his earlier proposal.

"So, how about it Asia? Do you mind if Tomoe and I adopted you?" Chrome asked again.

"Adoption?" Asia asked.

"Well, to be honest, this won't be like your normal adoption. Blood adoption essentially changed the adopted's genetics to be close to the ones who are doing the adoption, but without changing any of the strength and power that the adopted has already had. When I healed you earlier, I noticed that you somehow have a really good compability with the dragonkin, and in case you didn't realize, both me and Issei are dragons, hence why I offered you this," Chrome explained.

"How am I compatible with the dragonkin?" Asia asked in confusion.

"To be honest, I don't know. It probably has something to do with luck, destiny, and whatnot. And don't worry, you won't outright turn into a dragon. Like those who are born with dragon form have to train to attain human form, so do the ones who initially have human form to attain dragon form," Chrome explained.

"Ah, I see...," Asia said.

"So, how is it? Do you mind if we become your family?" Chrome asked while grinning.

"Um...," Asia paused as she looked around her, at Issei who once again was arguing with Diodora, at the smiling Tomoe, and at the grinning Chrome. After a while, she gave her answer.

"Yes... I-I want to, I really want to have a family," Asia answered as she sniffed.

"Yes! I finally have a daughter! Come here to Mom!" Tomoe shouted as she,once again, hugged Asia.

"A-a-a-a-a... M-Mom...," Asia stuttered as she didn't know how to react.

"*chuckle* Ease up on the girl, Tomoe. Now follow me, we will do the adoption ritual at the back room," Chrome said as he walked away.

As the rest of the Hyoudou-Dubh household followed though, Diodora grabbed Issei's shoulder.

"Wait a minute, Dubh."

"Tch, what is it, Astaroth?" Issei asked, annoyed.

"Tell me, there is one Rias Gremory that goes to your school, right?" Diodora asked back.

"The red-haired one, right? Yeah, what is it?"

Smiling mysteriously, Diodora asked again, "Do you mind if I ask you a favor, Dubh?"

* * *

 _So that's the end of the chapter. I'm pretty sure that some of you have some sort of idea on what is the favor that Diodora asked. But fret no longer, because the next chapter is also here! Before we get onto it though, sorry if there's any mistakes in this chapter._

 _May We Meet Again._


	9. Chapter VIII

_Nope, you are not seeing things. Here is an extra chapter! Phew, now only 3 more chapters that I owe you guys. This chapter marks the beginning of the Riser Arc. Without further ado, let us begin. Happy Reading._

 _Disclaimer: Meh, you guys know what I'm going to say._

* * *

Chapter VIII

 _"Do you mind if I ask you a favor, Dubh?" Diodora asked._

 _"What is it?" Issei replied._

 _"Kuhuhuhu, you don't need to worry about that for now. I just want to know whether you are willing to help or not," Diodora said._

 _"... *sigh* Oh well, whatever, sign me in," Issei nonchalantly said._

 _"I will hold to it then...," Diodora smiled mysteriously._

* * *

'It's been a few days since then, and yet he still hasn't contacted me yet. Damn it, that Astaroth, what does he want, really?' Issei thought as he stood alone on the rooftop.

It had been a few days since the fiasco with the Fallen Angels. The adoption ritual had worked successfully and now Asia had gone to Kuoh Academy on a year under him as his sister, now legally named as Hyoudou-Dubh Asia. Even now he could see her eating lunch together with her new friends. Her now white hair and red eyes, the after-effects of the ritual, evident among the black-haired and brunette Japanese. Thankfully since everyone knew about Issei's father being a foreigner, they chalked Asia's appearance up as genetics from his father.

'Though she's more like Mom rather than Dad,' Issei commented.

[Issei, stop staring at her every minute. There're no boys that go near her,] Albion sighed as he told Issei.

'... I don't know what you're talking about,' Issei said.

[You can say whatever you want, Issei, but I know an overprotective brother when I see one,] Albion countered.

'I'm not an overprotective brother,' Issei said back.

[Yes, you are.]

'No, I'm not.'

[Yes, you are.]

This kind of exchange went on and on until the end of the break.

* * *

"Say, why don't you guys go near Hyoudou's sister?" the brunette, Murayama, asked the Perverted Duo that hanged around the courtyard. In return, the duo just stared at her strangely.

"W-what? Why are you looking at me like that? *gasp* You must be thinking perverted things about me, don't you?!" Murayama accused.

The duo just stared at her longer before shruging and went back to anything they're doing before.

"... Eh, this's strange. They never acted like this before," the pink-haired Katase that was near Murayama remarked. Murayama just nodded in response.

After a while, Motohama decided to tell the girl, "Well, for one, she's Issei's sister, and although we haven't seen her all in our life, we have always thought of him as our brother in anything but blood, therefore you can say that Asia is also our sister."

"But isn't there a fetish about little sister though?" Murayama countered.

"*scoff* It's good if she's OUR little sister, but she isn't, so she's off limit," Matsuda answered.

"And never saw her? I thought you and Hyoudou are childhood friends?" Katase asked.

"Well, Issei said that she was very sickly as a child and therefore had to go overseas for treatment. Makes sense," Motohama answered.

"Going overseas? Wait, what are Hyoudou's parents' jobs, really, to be able to afford that?" Murayama asked.

"Hm, last I remembered, his mother is your normal housewife, while his father is, uh, what is he again, Motohama?" Matsuda said.

"Ex-Irish mafia," Motohoma nonchalantly answered.

"Oh yeah, no wonder his father has that scary expression of his. The guy is really cool though," Matsuda added.

"M-m-mafia?!" Murayama and Katase shouted in surprise and fright.

"Now, that I think about it, is that how Issei found that girl that one time we played together...?" Motohama thought aloud.

"Huh? What girl?" Matsuda asked in confusion.

"You know! Issei's girlfriend? The one that you took photo of with Issei using your camera?" Motohama said as he tried to rein in his annoyance.

"... Oh, that girl! The one with silver hair, right? If I remember correctly, her name is Ana, right? Damn, I'm sure she must be a beauty now. Issei sure is a damn lucky guy," Matsuda laughed.

"W-w-w-wait, Hyoudou has a girlfriend?! I have never heard about it before!" Katasa said in surprise.

"Well, not a girlfriend per se. You see, we used to played around with this girl named Irina, though Issei thought she was a boy, the idiot. One day, she went to Europe due to her parents' work, and so we had one less person in our group. We told Issei to find one more person, and Issei found her. Issei told me he found her alone in the park, though I doubt it," Motohama said.

"Eh, how so?" Matsuda dumbly asked.

"*sigh* Matsuda, one does not simply found a beautiful girl with foreign appearance wearing expensive clothes alone in a park in Japan. Issei told me she ran away from her grandpa since apparently he abused her and caused her parents' deaths. Although Issei didn't tell me much, I can imagine what actually happened," Motohama explained.

"He, please do explain then, Detective Motohama," Murayama said, clearly really intrigued to even act civil with Motohama.

Adjusting his glasses, Motohama told the three his conjecture, "Alright. First, I think that the girl is an heiress from another mafia family. Due to bad relations with the grandfather or other reasons, her parents and her grandfather probably fought each other that ended up with one of them leaving the mafia family. The problem began when the grandfather decided to track her family and decided to have his retribution, which, if Issei was to be believed, ended up with Ana's parents' dead. After suffering abuse by her grandfather for a time though, Ana probably managed to run away and ask for help from her parents' acquintance. The acquintance then probably turned to one of his ex-colleague for help, which was probably Issei's father, causing the meeting between Issei and Ana."

"Are you sure it's not a coincidence, though?" Katase asked in doubt over Motohama's explanation.

"Well, the last evidence is that when we played tomorrow, Issei told me that Ana went back home so that she couldn't play with us anymore. When I asked him the reason, he said that Ana's grandfather came yesterday after we came home, and that although Issei tried to go against him, he still lost in the end. Fortunately, Issei's father and his colleague came in time and managed to drive away him, so Ana didn't have to come back with him. Since his father and the colleague clearly knew each other, isn't that proof enough that Issei's father at least has some sort of connection with the mafia world?" Motohama elaborated.

"I see... Well, that's quite the convincing proof...," Katase admitted.

"Oh, and if you need another proof, there's also another one that I can tell you," Matsuda suddenly said.

"...Matsuda, did you mean that incident?" Motohama asked while showing a disagreeing expression.

"What? What incident?" both Murayama and Katase asked in excitement.

"*sigh* What I'm about to tell you better don't spread, alright? It... has something to do with why Issei and we transferred to this school," Motohama said.

"Eh? I thought the three of you transferred to this school because of the girls, the same reason as the others," Murayama said.

"It might be the case if it's only me and Matsuda, but Issei doesn't have any reason to transfer," Motohama answered.

"And it's also one of the reasons why we don't go near Issei's sister, and also why insulting Issei's family is a really bad idea," Matsuda continued.

"So, what actually happened?! Stop stalling already!" Katase shouted.

Looking at each other, Motohama and Matsuda then nodded.

"Issei, he... he killed someone from our school," Matsuda answered.

"W-what?!" Katase said in disbelief.

"He was a bully back in our old school. One day, he saw Ana's photo that Issei accidentally dropped from his wallet, and well, said things that shouldn't be said since he though Issei's into..., um, little girls. Everything was fine, until he also said things about Ana. We saw Issei's expression changed into this really cold one. We then knew that the bully fucked up. Nothing else happened for the rest of the day, but when tomorrow came, we got news that the bully's house was burned down, with the bully and the rest of his family trapped inside. Sure, there's no evidence that could inscriminate Issei, but everyone became afraid of him ever since, hence why he transferred to Kuoh," Motohama explained.

"... And you're not afraid of him?" Murayama opened her mouth after being quiet for a moment.

"*snort* Of course not. Issei's our friend, and we also know our limits. In fact, I already offered to beat up the bully back then, but Issei refused. Turned out he already had his own plan," Matsuda replied.

Looking Matsuda up and down, Murayama said, "Are you sure? You don't look strong at all."

"*snort* Just you know, Matsuda used to be part of one of the Sport Clubs in our old school. He only joined the Photography Club this year," Motohama answered.

"For perverted reasons, I'm sure," Katase said.

"You got it right!" Matsuda said with a smile. Sadly, his answer prompted the two Kendo Club members to beat up the perverted duo again.

* * *

Meanwhile, our 'murderer' was currently talking to someone which was clearly supernatural in nature, evident from the green magic circle near his ear.

"The old school building? You mean the one that now is used as the ORC's base? Why do we have to go there?" Issei asked.

"Because that's connected to the favor that I asked from you," Diodora's voice could be heard from the magic circle.

"How is that connected at all?"

"Do you know who is the current president of the ORC? Rias Gremory."

"... I see. So the ORC is just a smokescreen for her peerage, huh. But what are you going to do with the Gremory's peerage?"

"Kuhuhu, now that would be telling. Just make sure to come to the building at 3 PM. Oh, and make sure to wear something that can hide your identity. We don't want anyone to know you're a student of Kuoh Academy, after all."

"... Fine, I'll trust you on this one."

With that Issei cut off the link.

'*sigh* What the fuck am I getting myself into?'

[Welcome to Devils' politics, Issei,] Albion said with a teasing tone.

'Shut up, Albion.'

* * *

At 3 PM, in a place near the old school building but was hidden from public eyes, two magic circle could be seen. One was green colored while the other was white and black colored. Soon enough two figures appeared from the teleportation magic circles. One was Diodora, though he now wore casual clothes that consisted of black hoodie with the Astaroth emblem on the back, green shirt, dark green cargo pants, and sneakers. The other one though...

"... Really Dubh, really?" Diodora said with a twitching eye as he looked at his companion.

What Issei currently wore was the complete opposite of Diodora's. He wore semi-heavy white armor with clawed hands and feet, and black body suit with traditional hakama, ballooning pants that were common in samurai. He also wore an elaborate white faceless mask that had long white-silver hair tied on the mane. All of the armored sections of the armor also featured fully-functional black eyes with slit pupils, making it really frightening.

"This is the only thing that I can find in my house. And apparently this's something that my mother made for my father a long time ago. Don't know how she made it though," Issei replied.

"... *sigh* Whatever. Alright, let's go in," Diodora said as he stepped into the ORC's building.

"So, gonna tell what we're going to do?" Issei asked.

Smiling mysteriously, Diodora answered, "We're going to crash a wedding, of course."

* * *

 _And that's it for today's double chapters. I'm sure most of you have started to find out just what Diodora is trying to do. The keywords are politics and favors. The armor that Issei wears in this chapter is based on Susanoo unit, Hakumen version, from Blazblue, except with black eyes instead of red. Why his parents have it though? Now that is a question for another time. Like usual, I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in the writings. Feel free to comment via PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._

 _P.S. Oh, and I also start two side projects, an RWBY AU fic, and a Persona 3 one. If any of you are interested to know more or to see it posted here, just PM me._


	10. Chapter IX

_Alright, so... Hello again. B-before you guys throw those pitchforks and torches to me, hear me out first, alright? First, I'm in my midterm exams weeks, making me very busy and sleep-deprived. This chapter was supposed to be up last week, but then my internet broke down and just becoming normal again yesterday. But of course, then the website became really buggy, so hence I posted it now. I know that I now owe you 6 chapters, and because of that, I will just say that I will focus my time to finish the Riser Arc before taking one month hiatus so that I can plan for Season 2. For those that's waiting for Ana, she will appear at least 2 chapters from now, so please be patient. *cough* So with that out of the way, please, enjoy the chapter. Happy Reading._

 _P.S. I own nothing except the plot_

* * *

Chapter IX

As both Issei and Diodora stood in front of the ORC room, Albion decided to break the silence.

[Issei, do you know what kind of devils we're going to face?]

'Well, I can sense at least two foreign devil signature inside the room outside of the ORC's members that we've known. One of them smells like chicken though.'

[Hm, chicken... I prefer pheasant but chicken is enough.]

Not knowing the hidden conversation between the two dragonkin, Diodora said, "So, ready to face the music, Hakumen?"

Hakumen was the name that two decided to use as Issei's alias. The name meant "white face" in Japanese, and both of them thought it fitted and mysterious enough for Issei. Issei then just nodded in response to Diodora's question.

"Alright, here we go," Diodora said as he turned the doorknob.

* * *

"For the final time, Riser... I. Will. Not. Marry. You!" Rias shouted out loud, right at the exact moment Diodora opened the door.

"Eh, looks like we arrived right at the critical moment, huh, Hakumen?" Diodora smiled.

"You probably opened the door because you perfectly know that this's happening, didn't you?" Issei spoke in his magically distorted voice, becoming rougher and heavier.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Diodora feigned ignorance.

"Tch, cheeky devil," Issei said in response.

"Hey, who the hell are you to disturb Riser and his beloved Rias?!" the blonde haired man in burgundy suit, probably the guy Rias called Riser, said to Diodora.

'[Oh God, he speaks in third person...]' Issei and Albion thought at the same time.

"Tsk tsk tsk, no wonder you're just the third heir to the Phenex clan, Riser. You're so rude to someone you just met," Diodora said.

"You... Grayfia, who is this guy?! Did you invite him here?" Riser asked the other foreign person there.

She was a beautiful woman appearing to be in her early twenties, with silver hair and red eyes. Her hair, which flows all the way down to her back, features a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the ends, while the rest is let down, ending in twin braids. She also wore a blue and white colored maid outfit.

"He is the heir to Astaroth clan, Diodora Astaroth-sama, Riser-sama. And no, I didn't invite him here. Can you please tell us why you are here, Diodora-sama?" Grayfia asked.

"Now that's a polite way of asking question. You should learn from her, Riser. And for your answer, Grayfia-san, your husband accidentally spoke to my brother last night when he was drunk about his little sister's engangement. I just thought I should lend a hand to her since our brothers are friends," Diodora answered, still smiling.

Before this, Diodora had told Issei that Rias Gremory's older brother, Sirzechs Lucifer, was the current Lucifer after the Civil War between the Anti-Satan Faction and Old Satan Faction years ago. That would mean Grayfia was Rias' older sister-in-law. Hearing the name Lucifer, Issei didn't show any reaction, since he knew that it's only a title, and the only true Lucifer that's still alive were Rizevim and Ana.

"*sigh* Looks like I have to punish him again when I get back. And who is the one besides you?" Grayfia asked again, unsure of what Issei was due to his almost skin-like armor and faceless mask.

"He is-"

"I am his older brother-in-law," Issei cut off Diodora's answer.

"You...," Diodora glowered at Issei.

"What? It's true. After all, you're dating my little sister, right, Astaroth?" Issei taunted.

Diodora knew that he was trapped right now. Not seeing any other choice, he relented.

"Yeah, yeah, I understand. The one beside me is Hakumen, a dragonkin. And just like he said, I'm dating his little sister," Diodora said. Issei seemed to be strangely smug because of Diodora's answer. None of it showed on the outside though.

The other people just went speechless at the statement. An heir to one of the 72 Pillars, dating a dragoness? They didn't whether that was a good thing or not.

"Alright, let's just cut to the chase. What's your purpose here, Diodora?" Riser asked in anger.

"It's quite simple, really. Rias-san, you don't want to marry this chicken, correct?" Diodora asked. Angering Riser further by his chicken comment.

"W-well, that's correct. I want to marry the man that I love and choose myself, and not one that was chosen by my parents," Rias answered.

"That's why I offer, why not just settle this with a Rating Game between your peerage and Riser's? If Riser wins, the engangement will stay, and if you win, the engangement will be broken. How about that?" Diodora offered.

"And what is your role in this, Astaroth?" Riser asked.

"I will help train them, of course. I and Hakumen," Diodora answered.

"*scoff* Someone who doesn't even have peerage like you want to help my beloved Rias? Preposterous. Well, you might receive some help from your brother, but I don't believe that your companion is able to help," Riser said.

"Well... Why don't we find out then?" Diodora smirked.

"Good idea," Riser then snapped his finger. One big magic circle appeared on the floor, and from it appeared Riser's peerage. All of them were women wearing various type of revealing clothes. All in all, Issei had the feeling that each one of them was a fulfillment of Riser's certain fetishes.

[He already have this many women. Moreover, he already has a "Queen" yet still want for more. Disgusting] Albion said to Issei. Issei couldn't help but to share the sentiment.

Dragons had mate for live. Since dragons were practically immortal, one didn't need to worry if their mate were to die, except in certain circumstances. Even regarding special cases like Crom and others alike, they had already formed bond with their mates that would share their lifeforce with their mates so that the latter wouldn't die by natural means.

And surprisingly, the same also applied with Devils, Diodora told him. Even if they're called Devils, they're still from the Christian Pantheon, the one that made the monogamous practice widespread, so of course they also had the tradition. In fact, the Queen piece of a peerage was traditionally to be given to the "King's" mate. Excluding Akeno and Rias and other examples that were from the same gender, "King" and "Queen" with opposing genders from other peerages highly likely were a couple. That's why a peerage like Riser's, which was filled with woman devoted to him, was actually quite frowned upon by the traditionalists.

"Mira, will you test the weakling, please?" Riser indicated to his Pawn, a blue-haired girl wearing red happi jacket.

"Yes, Riser-sama!" She complied as he charged towards Issei.

'The fools... Don't they know to never underestimate a dragon? Ah, wait, it's Riser's peerage, after all. No surprise there,' Diodora thought.

Facing the simple and reckless charge, Issei just stood silently like a statue, waiting for the spear. Even when the spear was already upon his neck, he still hadn't moved at all. And finally, the spear arrived, only for the spearhead to be broken once it came in contact with Issei's armor. Whether it's because of the armor's defense capability or Issei's draconic physique, no one knew.

"He... doesn't even use enhancement magic...," Akeno said in amazement.

"Un. His body is strong, really strong, even stronger than me, I assume," Koneko said.

"Are you sure, Koneko?" Yuuto asked the Rook. She then nodded in confirmation.

Issei then grabbed the spear shaft and swung the now useless stick while Riser's pawn still holding on it with disbelief, resulting in her body being thrown against the wall. Issei might now had used all of his strength, but it's evident that the Pawn would have some heavy injuries from the fact that there were large cracks on the wall.

"A bit excessive, don't you think? Do you really need to be so merciless against such a little girl?" Diodora asked Issei while frowning.

"*sigh* They underestimate me, Astaroth, so I have to give them some lessons. And besides, you know that there's no mercy in battle and war," Issei answered.

Turning towards Riser, Issei spoke with the Phenex for the first time, "Does that satisfy you enough of my power, Phenex?"

"Tch," Riser answered with just that as he helped the unconscious Mira.

"Then, with both parties' agreement, the matter regarding Rias-sama's engangement shall be decided through a Rating Game between Rias-sama's peerage and Riser-sama's peerage. Do you have any complaints, Rias-sama?" Grayfia who just watched the exchange between Issei and Mira silently, asked.

"No, I don't have any," Rias shook her head. She too just watched the exchange just now silently, part amazaed by how strong Issei was.

'If only I have someone as strong as him in my peerage,' Rias silently thought.

"How much time do you need to train Rias-sama's peerage, Diodora-sama?" Grayfia then turned to Diodora.

"Um... How about... 10 days? Is that fine with you, Riser?" Diodora once again assumed his usual small smile face and asked Riser.

"Tch, fine. There's no problem with Riser," Riser asnwered.

"Then 10 days for now, the Rating Game shall be begun. I hope both sides will prepare well for it. I shall take my leave now to report this to Sirzechs-sama, Rias-sama, Riser-sama, Diodora-sama," Grayfia politely bowed to the three Devil nobles and then left via her magic circle.

"You better train well, my beloved Rias. Don't want to you to have any petty excuses left when you lose, after all," Riser mocked.

"Just you wait, Riser. My peerage shall defeat yours," Rias said confidently to Riser.

"We shall see, my beloved Rias. We shall see," Riser and his peerage then dissapeared through their own magic circle.

Finished with the Phenex, Rias the turned towards the Astaroth.

"So what's your plan, Diodora?"

Diodora and Issei just exchanged knowing looks between them at that.

"Training camp, obviously."

* * *

 _I know this's another short chapter, but I just felt that with the introduction of Grayfia, Chicken, and his peerage, it's already enough._ _Like usual, I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in the writings. I won't give you guys false hope that the next chapter will be up next week, but please, cross your fingers. If any of you have questions, feel free to ask me via PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._

 _P.S. Once again, if any of you is interested in my upcoming RWBY or Persona 3 fics that I write as side projects, just PM me._


	11. Chapter X

_Alright, alright, I know that this chapter is so damn late, but those that have PM-ed me should know why. Suffice to say, I got sick, really sick. I'm a person that is really easy to get sick, especially when it's raining. Brrr, I just can't handle the cold. Like usual, I thank all of you that have followed and favorited this story, although it has such a random schedule. Before we get to the chapter though, I want to adress a guest review. They said that Chrome is weak, although he is supposed to be who all of you know who he is. My answer is, he changed. He is no longer the bloodthirsty self he is used to be. He now has a family, and for dragons, their family, or pack, is much more important than just personal pride. Besides Azazel was just joking with Chrome. I mean, c'mon, have you never seen that kind of dad jokes between your father and his friends? I always see them all the time, though it's probably because I'm also quite old now... *cough* Anyway, that's for this author note. Happy Reading._

 _P.S. I own nothing except the plot, and the new DxD anime art is not that good compared to the old ones._

* * *

Chapter X

The Gremory peerage could be seen standing on the foot of a mountain. All of them could be seen carrying large bags with weights. It could be seen that the one carrying the largest of them all was Koneko.

"Telling us to wait here and yet the ones who are late, just what are those guys thinking?" Koneko whispered in complain.

"Now, now, Koneko. Maybe they're still preparing the training equipment for us?" Yuuto tried to calm Koneko down.

Just as Yuuto finished his words, Astaroth teleportation circle appeared on the ground near them. From it appeared the two persons that proposed this entire training camp idea. Diodora was still in casual clothes similar to what he wore yesterday while Issei was also wearing his white armor. Both of them were carrying huge bags on them, much larger than the ones that the Gremory peerage carried.

"Dammit, Hakumen, why do I have to bring all of this thing with me? It's heavy," Diodora complained.

"Aren't you the one that is courting my sister, Astaroth? How can you date a dragoness if you aren't strong enough to protect her?" Issei countered. At that reply, Astaroth shut up.

"Oh yeah, hey, Kiba, here," Issei said as he threw another large bag at Yuuto.

Catching it, Yuuto couldn't even stand normally any longer due to the weight.

"W-wait, H-Hakumen-san, w-what is this?" Kiba said as he adjusted the new weight addition.

"You're a Knight, aren't you? That is to increase your speed and stamina. Now if there's no question, let's climb," Issei said and then began to climb with Diodora.

"W-wait, what about your bags? For what purposes are those?" Rias asked.

"Oh? These are for our own training. Didn't you hear? This guy is courting a dragoness, so it's only right that he at least has a physical strength comparable to a dragon," Issei answered.

Looking at the enormous size of the bags, it's obvious just how heavy those bags were. Rias and Akeno could sense how there's no lightening magic at all, while Yuuto and Koneko could sense how those bags were truly heavy. One can only guess how strong those guys were.

"That Diodora guy, I thought he was a long-ranged fighter like Akeno-senpai. Looks like I'm wrong," Koneko said in surprise.

"Strength comparable to a dragon, huh. I wonder how strong that is compared to devils," Yuuto laughed nervously at the end of his words.

"Ara are, what do you think, Buchou?" Akeno asked Rias.

"T-this is really surprising. The last time I saw Diodora, he's nowhere this strong. Even with Ajuka's help, I can only wonder what kind of training he does," Rias answered.

At the end of those words, Diodora could be seen sneezing really loud.

"Oi, don't just dawdle around there! We have to reach the summit before the sun is at the topmost position," Issei as he turned his head back.

"Coming!" the Gremory peerage said at the same time.

With that, the Gremory peerage also climbed the mountain behind the future-brothers-in-law duo.

* * *

"*whistle* Now that's what I call a big mansion," Issei remarked as the group reached the summit.

"Even I have to admit that this mansion of yours are nice, Rias," Diodora said.

"Alright, now all of you should put down your belongings first, then we will start our training," Issei said.

After the peerage dropped their things inside the mansion, they went back to the courtyard in front of the mansion where Issei and Diodora were waiting. Both of them also had dropped the huge bags they carried, probably sent back to their original places via teleportation magic.

"So, Hakumen-san, what are we going to do for training?" Rias asked the masked guy.

"Alright, so Gremory-san and Himejima-san are going to fight Astaroth. Kiba and Toujou-san will fight me. We're going to see how you fight first before planning the training schedule," Issei answered.

"2 on 1? Aren't you gonna be overwhelmed, Hakumen-san?" Akeno asked.

"Don't worry about me. My draconic physique is strong enough to face two of you at the same time. And Astaroth doesn't deserve my sister if he can't even handle this. On that note though, can you please go all out and use your Fallen Angel powers, Himejima-san?" Issei replied. Astaroth let out an indignant shout at the statement where he didn't deserve Asia.

At Issei's words, the group's atmosphere suddenly went tense.

"How, how did you know?" Rias stuttered.

"Hmm? I have quite a few Fallen Angel acquaintances and know their smell, so I can know one from kilometers away," Issei nonchalantly said.

At the answer, the group relaxed a bit.

"Acquaintances? Who are they, Hakumen-san?" Akeno asked.

"Well, I met Azazel's daughter recently. And I also met the pervert once when I was a child. I don't remember it clearly though," Issei half-lied. He wasn't even conscious when his father and Azazel conversed.

"Well, alright, if that's what you want. But don't cry if you lose, alright?" Rias confidently said.

"We will see," Diodora smirked in response.

* * *

"We... lost...?" Rias said in disbelief as the Gremory peerage lied on the ground.

"You did," Issei confirmed as he dispelled his claws.

"B-but how? How can you use Fallen Angel's abilities?" Akeno asked Diodora, who somehow pulled a book out of nowhere and now was reading it, while his eyes still closed.

"I fought a Fallen Angel once. I copied his powers back then," Diodora answered while flipping a page.

"And you even copied Akeno's attacks, how?" Rias also asked.

"Her magics are just normal magic fused together to form complex new ones. Since it's not a clan ability like your Power of Destruction, I can easily copy it given enough time," Diodora answered.

"So, should you be the one to give out an explanation why they lost, or should I?" Issei asked.

"Hm... I think you should. I want to finish this book first," Diodora nonchalantly said.

"Alright, then we will start from the weakest one."

At Issei's words, the whole peerage tensed.

"The weakest is... Kiba," Issei turned to look at the blonde swordsman.

"M-me?!" the blonde said in surprise.

"You're fast, and your swordsmanship is something that I have to admit even I can't compare to right now, but that's where your advantage ends. Your body can't take a hit, and that will be a huge disadvantage since you're going to fight an enemy with more numbers than you. You're basically like a glass cannon. Once used, it breaks. And the last thing is, you're too damn noble. I know you're a Knight, and not that being noble is a bad thing, but I know what kind of guy the chicken is once I saw him. He will play dirty if he has to, and sometimes you have stoop to the same level if you want to win," Issei explained.

Yuuto looked like he was hit by bricks at Issei's explanation, but it's not like it's wrong. Maybe he had to swallow his pride and play dirty if he wanted to win against Riser's peerage.

"That's why for the next few days, you're going to wear weights on your body while fighting against me one-on-one. You can dodge, but you can't move. This's to increase your physical strength, stamina, and reflexes, and your speed to a lesser extent," Issei continued.

Kiba nodded in agreement at the training plan.

"And the next is, Rias."

The Gremory heiress just nodded in acknowledgement.

"To be honest, you have the firepower. What you lack is control. The Power of Destruction is strong sure, but you can't just throw it around like a bunch of flowers. What you really need right now is creativity, that and experience. You have to learn how to make your attacks more efficient and dangerous to your enemies. Remember, in wars, the winner lives, the loser dies," Issei said in a fatalistic tone.

"In this aspect, you will be guided by Diodora. Because honestly? I suck at magic, even with my draconic enhancement," Issei gestured towards Diodora, who nodded in acknowledgement. The group laughed at Issei's honesty, but then the situation turned serious once again.

"And... *sigh* Frankly, I don't know what I'm going to do with both of you right now, Toujou-san, Himejima-san. In terms of control, firepower, strength and et cetera, the two of you are the most balanced at this group. I know that you haven't give it your all yet," the two became tense at Issei's words, "but I know you have your own reasons for it. So, I won't pry and for now we can just focus on increasing you experiences in battles, understood?"

Both of them nodded in affirmative.

"Alright, then, get up. It's time to train," Issei said as he summoned his claws again. Diodora also closed his book and put it in some place.

"Wait, like, right now?" Rias asked.

"Yes, right now," Issei nodded.

And so Gremory peerage knew the training hell from the brothers-in-law duo.

* * *

At night, the group, except Issei, could be seen resting in a room in the mansion. Except for Diodora that was normally flipping the pages of his book, everyone else was breathing heavily.

"T-this's truly a training camp from Hell. I'm so exhausted," Yuuto said.

"U-un," Koneko agreed.

"Be prepared then, because it seems tomorrow will be worse than this," Diodora cruelly added as he flipped another page. At that comment, everyone groaned in displeasure.

The silence was then broken by the ORC President.

"Hey, Diodora," Rias said.

"What?"

"Why did you and Hakumen-san carry those large bags? I mean, I know about your reason, but I don't think that Hakumen-san needed to do that. Except that he's also in training," Rias asked in curiosity.

After showing an annoyed expression to what happened that morning for an instant, Diodora schooled his expression and answered, "Well, I can't say I know anything about my 'beloved' brother-in-law, but if I have to guess..."

"If you have to guess...?" the Gremory peerage droned in curiosity at the same time.

"I think his reason is similar to mine. At least, I don't think our reasons aren't that dissimilar," Diodora let out a wistful smile while the Gremory peerage just tilting their heads in confusion.

"*cough* Don't think too much about it, alright? Just focus on resting so that you can focus on your training tomorrow," Diodora said. At that the peerage let out another groan.

* * *

Outside the mansion, Issei could be seen sitting atop the grasses while looking upwards at the moon. His mask lying beside him.

[Thinking about someone, Issei?] Albion's voice suddenly appeared.

"Albion? Why did you just appear now? And I don't know what you're talking about," Issei answered.

[*snort* I just slept. Even a bodiless dragon like me need one, you know. And we know where this's going to lead to, Issei. Just be honest,] Albion said.

"... *sigh* I guess you're right, Albion. It's just... It's been 10 years since I last saw her. *chuckle* I'm sure she's become more beautiful woman now 10 years have passed," Issei said wistfully.

[Ah, thinking about your mate.]

"For the last time, she's not my mate, Albion," Issei denied exasperatedly.

[*snort* Say what you will, Issei. I know it. Your father knows it. Your mother knows it. And hell, I'm pretty sure that perv, Azazel, knows it too,] Albion said sarcastically.

"... Even if that's true, she might not like me back, you know," Issei whispered.

[You admit that you like her then?]

"And I'm not going to answer that one."

[Whatever makes you sleep at night, Issei. Whatever makes you sleep at night. We all know you fell in love with her at the first sight,] Albion once again said in sarcastic tone.

As the silence descended once more, Albion decided to speak a little bit more.

[Or... did your feelings to protect her change after all of this time?]

"*snort* They aren't, and you know it. Its's just, for all this time I wanted to become strong just so that I can protect her you know, but then my memory came back, and I realize the stake is higher than I realized before," Issei admitted.

[... Rizevim, huh.]

"Yeah, Rizevim..."

At the name, Issei's gaze sharpened. If someone that knew his father saw that him, they would recognize that gaze. That's the gaze that his father had back in his younger days, back when he hadn't settled down yet, back when he was also known as the "Dragon of Slaughter". A gaze full of hatred, rage, and madness that's worthy to belong to the so called "Evil Dragon of Evil Dragon'.

'Rizevim...,' as Issei repeated the name in his mind, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

'You will pay.'

* * *

 _Okay, so you have read the training chapter. I know some of you are eager to see Ana back into the picture, so I will give you huys two choices. We can go the usual way, with the battle against Chicken and all. Or we can just skip that to the reunion with Ana and where Issei fights Chicken's peerage all by himself. Anyway, tell me your choice via PM or review. Once again,_ _I'm sorry for the really late chapter and if there's any mistakes in the writings .I won't give you guys false hope that the next chapter will be up next week, but please, cross your fingers. And if any of you have questions, feel free to ask me via PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._

 _P.S. Once again, if any of you is interested in my upcoming RWBY or Persona 3 fics that I write as side projects, just PM me. And I'm also working on an additional Date A Live side project right now. Don't worry I will focus on them after I finished PDE's first season._


	12. Chapter XI

_Alright, alright, before anyone assuming that I'm dead, no, I'm not. After finishing my current semester, my father dragged me off to help him at his place. So I don't really have much time to perfect this chapter. The truth is, today is my friend's birthday, and this is a present for her. The plan is to also include the fight against Riser in this too, but as you can see, real life happened and I can't complete the chapter in time._ _Like usual, I thank all of you that have followed and favorited this story, although it has such a random schedule._  
 _ _Anyway, that's for this author note. Happy Reading.__

 _P.S. I own nothing except the plot, and the new DxD anime art is still not that good compared to the old ones for me. Oh, and the new cover is how Ana's appearance is, courtesy of my illustrator that somehow never wears his underwear.  
_

* * *

Chapter XI

In a cafe near Kuoh Academy, Issei and Diodora could be seen sitting across each other. Diodora was drinking a tea with complicated name and reading his book at the same time while Issei was drinking a cup of milk with ice, something that Diodora deemed as uncivilized. With their calm expression, one would think that the battle against Riser's peerage that happened that afternoon ended in a good outcome. The reality was crueler than that though.

"... You know, from your expression, you seem to know that this's going to happen," Diodora opened the conversation.

Silent for a while, Issei decided to answer, "*sigh* Actually, yeah, I expect this outcome. The Gremory's disadvantage are numbers and experience, but with our help, I was hoping that they would be strong enough that they at least would have a 50% chance of win if they had a good strategy."

"Oh? So, you're saying their strategy is a bad one? I personally think trapping the Chicken's peerage and then eliminating them group by group is a good idea," Diodora gave his opinion.

"I'm not saying the strategy itself is a bad one entirely. Only the part where they finally fought Riser himself," Issei explained.

"Ah, yes, that. I can see what you mean. *sigh* They've seen how that Rook girl used her disadvantage in numbers to her own advantage, and yet when they went against the Chicken, it's as if all of strategies and tactics were thrown out of the window," Diodora remarked.

"They should have used Kiba and Toujou-san to block the Chicken's attacks while Himejima-san and Gremory-san attacked him from distance to make him run out of stamina."

"Do you think that could work against his regeneration power?" Diodora raised an eyebrow.

"It's not a complete 100%, but there's a chance. Toujou-san could block Chicken's attack, while Kiba could create swords that could absorb Chicken's flames. At the same time, Himejima-san and Gremory-san would attack from long range. It takes time, but I'm sure we could exhaust the Chicken's stamina this way. Even his regeneration must have a limit," Issei explained.

"And instead they crowded around him like uncivilized savages. Didn't they know that it will just give him a chance to eliminate all of them at the same time? *sigh* I'm really glad we managed to save my beloved Asia before them. I shudder to think what I will do to that damned Chicken if my beloved Asia is to be touched by him," Diodora let out a shudder.

"*snort* Get in line, Astaroth. I will spill his innards first," Issei replied.

"*sigh* Oh well, I will take my leave now, Dubh," Diodora said as he stood up from his seat.

"Hm? Do you have something to do?" Issei asked.

"I have a training session tonight with my brother. Like you said, my strength right now isn't enough to protect Asia," Diodora answered.

"... Good luck then, brother-in-law," Issei said in sincere tone as he lifted his cup.

"Tch, I'm off," Diodora said before he went out of the cafe.

[Issei, is this fine?] Albion asked after a while.

Drinking his cup first, Issei answered, 'I'm also indignant at this outcome, Albion, especially after that shit the Chicken pulled at the end. But that's also the only card we have right now. And we don't have enough to retaliate against him.'

[As much as I hate to say it, you're right. Still, is there nothing we can do?]

'... I see your pride as a dragon was insulted same as me, huh, Albion?'

[*snort* You and Diodora maybe the ones that taught those kids directly, but that doesn't mean I don't have a hand in it. And I hate seeing that shitty Chicken so high and mighty after defeating them in such cheap way.]

'Same as you, Albion. Same as you. *sigh* How about we go home, and I go to my mindscape?'

[Hoo, you seem really eager to spar against me again.]

'Well, it's a good training method, although only an image training. And I can feel that it helps me in mastering Divine Dividing.'

That night at the training camp after their conversation, Albion had brought Issei into his mindscape to help training him in using Divine Dividing. It's quite effective, with how the time flowed slower there than in the real world. But of course, Issei's badly defeated the few first times. Albion might be a really large dragon, but he wasn't a slouch.

After paying for his and Diodora's drinks, Issei left the cafe. Seeing that it's already night, Issei decided to take a shortcut to get home.

"Hey, girl. C'mon, just come with us. We will show you a good time," a leery voice sounded out from one of the alleys near Issei.

"Yeah, just come with us. We don't bite," another voice sounded out.

"I'm sorry, but there's somewhere else that I have to go to," a girl's voice answered.

'*sigh* Just my luck. The first time I choose to take a shortcut, this happens,' Issei lamented in his mind.

[What do you want to do?] Albion asked.

'What else? Just ignoring the girl after this will leave a bad taste in my mouth,' Issei answered.

With that Issei stepped into the alley. As he got into the alley though, a certain familiar scent entered his nose. He might just join the supernatural recently but ever since he awakened, Issei somehow kept remembering this certain scent. One that he smelt right now.

[*chuckle* A shame you didn't bring a white horse, huh, Issei,] Albion thought.

Walking closer to group, Issei could see five thugs surrounding who seemed to be the girl.

"Hey, I'm in quite a bad mood right now, so can you please get away from her before I break your bones?" Issei asked the thugs.

"Huh? What's this?" a thug with a leery voice, that seemed to be the leader, said as he turned back.

"Hey, brat, are you lost? Why not just scram and-"

"Alright, you want me to break your bones. Understood," Issei cut in. In an instant, Issei let out a punch at the man's torso.

[Some fractured ribs, maybe got to the spine,] Albion commented.

"Boss!" one of the thugs shouted. Issei then hit him with a roundhouse kick at the back.

[Definitely broken spine.]

"You bastards!" the leftover thugs said as they charged towards Issei.

For the first one, Issei swept his legs and then kicked his face. The second apparently had a knife, so he stabbed forward, only for Issei to dodge and smashed his elbow upwards, breaking it. Issei then hit the thug's head on the side with his bottom fist. Seeing as all of his friends had been incapacitated, the last one tried to run away, only for Issei to chase him and hit the back of his head with a palm attack.

[The first one will probably have nosebleed, broken nose, fractured skull and concussion. The second one, broken elbow and concussion, maybe also fractured skull. Meanwhile the last one managed to get away with probably just a concussion, lucky guy.]

After checking that all of the thugs were knocked out, Issei then turned towards the girl.

'It's no mistake. The scent comes from her,' Issei thought.

"*cough* Um, thank you for your help, but I can handle them, really," the girl said.

"Don't worry, it's...," Issei spaced out at the end. How could he not? The girl that he had always thought of all this years was now in front of him.

She was taller, around 5 feet and 9 inches to Issei's 6 feet, and older than he remembered, but 10 years had passed so it's obvious. Her white silver hair reached her thighs while the part near her left ear was braided. Her shining clear blue sky colored eyes were partly covered by her bangs. She wore black open-shoulder shirt, white colored skirt that reached a bit below her knees, and blue colored sneakers. For Issei, it's almost like she became much more beautiful, if that's even possible.

"Ana... -chan?" Issei said.

"Huh?! Why do you...Wait, no, it can't be, I-Ise?!" Valiana Lucifer, the Princess of Hell, exclaimed.

After the two awkwardly looked at each other for a moment, Issei decided to break the moment.

"*cough* So... Ana," Issei said.

"Huh? Yes?" Valiana asked, confused.

"Welcome home," Issei let out a weak smile as he scratched his head.

Silent for a while, Valiana then also let out a big smile.

"I'm home."

* * *

"Mom, why hasn't Ise-nii back yet?" Asia asked Tomoe. After 2 weeks living with the Hyoudou-Dubh, Asia finally was used to with her new family.

"Hm... I think... He's meeting your future sister-in-law...," Tomoe guessed as she put a finger to her chin.

"... Honey, by what reason did you conjure such answer?" Chrome asked with wide eyes.

"*giggle* Call it a woman's instinct," Tomoe answered while hiding her mouth behind her hand.

"... really...," Chrome replied in doubt.

"Why not we make a bet? If I win, then our treasury will have to be doubled by tomorrow," Tomoe offered.

"And if not?" Chrome grinned.

"Well, maybe I can give you a good time, hm? I'm pretty sure Asia would like a younger sibling," Tomoe let out an alluring smile while crossing her arms under her assets, greatly emphasizing them.

"... You're on!" Chrome let out a loud exclamation while being red faced.

Suddenly, they could hear the front door being opened.

"I'm home!" Issei's voice could be heard throughout the house.

"Welcome home, Issei," Tomoe answered.

"Ise-nii!" Asia shouted as she tackle-hugged Issei.

"Whoa, Asia! Why the hug?" Issei asked.

"You aren't home yet, so I became worried," Asia answered.

"A ha, ha, sorry to make you worried, Asia. Well, that's because I met someone on the way here," Issei answered.

"Someone?" Asia asked in curiosity.

"Someone?" Tomoe, in mirth.

"*gulp* Someone?" Chrome, in apprehension.

"Ana, it's fine, you can come out now," Issei signaled.

Valiana then stepped out from behind the wall.

"Uh, um... Good night, Mr. Hyoudou, Mrs. Hyoudou, Asia-chan," Valiana greeted with an unsure smile. Issei had told her about his family on the way.

"... *sigh* I told you to just call me Chrome, right, Valiana? Issei has thought of you as family after all," Chrome said, although with quite a sad tone.

"Why the sigh, Dad?" Issei asked.

"Oh, don't mind me, son. I just lost a bet with your mother, so I will go outside for a while. Valiana, just make yourself at home, alright?" Chrome said with a fatherly smile.

"Huh? A-alright, Mr. Hyou- Ah, I mean, Chrome-san. Thank you," Valiana said with a grateful smile.

"Alright, kids, I'm off," Chrome said as he teleported using a draconic spell.

"Be careful, Dad," Issei and Asia said at the same time.

"Wow, your father must be really strong, huh, Ise," Valiana commented.

"Well, he was the Evil Dragon of Evil Dragons, after all," Issei replied.

"*cough* So, you must be Valiana, yes?" Tomoe asked.

"Y-yes, Mrs. Hyoudou."

"No need to be so tense, dear. As my husband has just said, your family after all. Just call me Tomoe, alright?"

"Um, okay, Tomoe-san," Valiana relented.

"Ana-nee, Ise-nii has told me a lot of things about you, but I never know you're so pretty," Asia said.

At the word "Ana-nee", Valiana just froze.

"Ana-nee...?" Valiana whispered.

"Um, did I misspeak?" Asia asked in worry.

After staring off for a few seconds, Valiana quickly shook her head.

"No... It's alright, you can call me, Ana-nee," Valiana let out a big smile.

"Alright!" Asia also let out a smile at that.

"Aw, why are you so cute?!" Ana exclaimed as she suddenly hugged Asia to her breasts that didn't lose out to Tomoe. If Motohama was there, he would be amazed that there's someone who could beat Akeno's breasts size of 40 inches besides Tomoe's 42 inches, even if it's only by an inch.

"Right, right, my daughter is so cute, right?!" Tomoe also joined in.

As Issei watched the spectacle, he then smiled a content smile.

[Finally having a good mood, Issei?] Albion spoke after being silent for a while.

'Yeah. It's just, I feel my family is finally complete,' Issei answered.

[*chuckle* I'm glad for you, Issei]

'Thanks, Albion,' Issei replied as he watched his now complete family.

* * *

 _Once again,_ _I'm sorry for the really late chapter and if there's any mistakes in the writings. I know that I promised you the reunion and the fight this chapter, but stuff happened. At least we got the reunion down now, right? I won't give you guys false hope that the next chapter will be up next week, but please, cross your fingers. And if any of you have questions, feel free to ask me via PM or review._

 _May We Meet Again._

 _P.S. Once again, if any of you is interested in my upcoming RWBY or Persona 3 fics that I write as side projects, just PM me. And I'm also working on an additional Date A Live side project right now. Don't worry I will focus on them after I finished PDE's first season._


	13. Chapter XII

_I don't know how many times I have said this but... I'm not dead. I was on internship since June to July, and then preparing for the new semester at August, so yeah, I only have time to update this now. Some of you have tried to guess who Tomoe is, but I will neither deny nor confirm those guesses until the time comes._ _Like usual, I thank all of you that have followed and favorited this story, although it has such a random schedule._ _ _Anyway, that's it for this author note. Happy Reading.__

 _P.S. I own nothing except the plot, and OCs._

* * *

Chapter XII

At the early morning the next day, Issei could be seen dragged by Ana.

"O-oi, Ana! Slow down!" Issei said.

"C'mon, Ise! I want to show you my peerage. This is the peerage that you're going to become the 'King' of! At least show some excitement!" Ana replied.

"Are you sure though? The Queen piece is the most important amongst all of the Evil Pieces. The bond between the 'King' and 'Queen' of a peerage greatly affects the leader of the peerage's ability, right? Are you sure I'm worthy of such thing?" Issei asked.

At Issei's questions, Ana stopped. From her irritated expression, it's clear they've been talking about this for a long time.

"Ise, let me ask you this? Will you ever hurt me?" Ana asked back with a serious expression.

"Of course not, Ana. You're my childhood friend, and also my best friend. I swore to protect you 10 years ago, and that will never change," Issei answered without any shred of doubt.

"Then I made the right choice. Now, let's go," Ana said as they resumed walking.

'Stupid Ise. How can you say that with a straight face?' Ana thought as she secretly blushed.

Soon enough they arrived at the park, the same one where Issei and Ana played in their childhood. There're already 4 persons waiting there.

The first one was a bespectacled young man with blond hair with a strand of hair across his face, who was dressed in a business suit. This must be Arthur Pendragon, Ana's Knight.

The one besides him was clearly his younger sister and Ana's Pawn, Le Fay Pendragon. She had a slim body, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. Her attire consisted of a sorceress-like dress with a huge blue hat with a black bow and yellow stars and matching cape with pink flowers and a white interior. All in all, she fitted the witch trope to a T.

Another male in the group was a young man with a short brown colored hair dressed in what seemed to be ancient Chinese armor. This's Bikou, Ana's Rook.

The last member of the group and the only female left. She was a beautiful young woman with voluptuous figure, long black hair with split bangs, and hazel-gold eyes with cat-like pupils. She wore a black kimono, a yellow obi, a set of golden beads, and an ornately detailed headband. The kimono featured a red interior and it was open at her shoulders, giving view to her 98 centimeter large breasts. And if Issei didn't see wrongly, she had a pair of black cat ears and two black tails. She's Kuroka, a Nekomata and Ana's Bishop. Somehow, Issei could smell a familiar scent from her.

"Ah, you're back, Ana! So, is he that boyfriend you keep telling us about?" Bikou opened the conversation.

"B-Bikou, h-he isn't my boyfriend! I told you, Ise's only my childhood friend!" Ana stuttered.

"Boyfriend, childhood friend, no difference. Hey, new guy! Ana said you're a half-dragon. Let's fight, shall we?!" Bikou grinned.

"B-Bikou!" Ana shouted.

"Stay calm, Bikou. At least let him introduce himself first. My name is Arthur Pendragon, and this is my younger sister, Le Fay Pendragon. We're the descendants of the original Arthur Pendragon and Morgan Le Fay. Nice to meet you," Arthur introduced himself as he offered a handshake.

"Nice to meet you!" Le Fay also said energetically.

"Name's Issei, Hyoudou-Dubh Issei. Just call me Ise. Nice to meet you too, kinsman," Issei said as he accepted the handshake.

"Kinsman? I thought you're Japanese," Arthur said.

"Notice the Dubh part in my last name? My father is an Irish, well, an Irish dragon, to be exact. But still, although I'm Irish and you're Welsh, we're both Celtics, aren't we?" Issei replied.

"Ah, I see. Then, nice to meet you too, kinsman. Still, you seemed to be unsurprised with the fact that both of us descended from both original Arthur and Morgan Le Fay, given what that fact entails," Arthur said in curiosity.

"*snort* Every proper Celtic supernatural being that still followed the old ways would know that Arthur actually loves Morgan, and that Mordred is Arthur's legitimate heir. It's Geoffrey that spread the false story about Arthur due to how the Church frowned upon such incestuous relationship and how widespread the Church's influence was back during the medieval era. I expected that the truth would have been made known by now though," Issei said.

"Well, it's not that simple, you know. After Christianity spread to the British Isles, my ancestors chose to withdraw from the Near Side of the World to the Far Side, or the supernatural world as we know it. To announce the truth now, when the lies have taken root too deep inside the society, that's too risky for everyone," Arthur explained.

"Ah, I see. True, such revelations can make quite the impact, especially if the world realizes that the Pendragons are still alive," Issei said.

"Now, now, let's stop this serious talk, alright? We finally get another fine specimen of man here. Let's not ruin it with being all tense and serious, right, Ise-kun?" Kuroka said cheerfully as she hugged Issei's arm close to her breasts.

"K-Kuroka?! L-let Ise's arm go!" Ana said, flustered.

"Ara? Are you jealous, Ana-nyan? *giggle* Looks like Bikou isn't that far off from the mark then," Kuroka teased as she hugged Issei's arm tighter.

"K-Kuroka?!" Ana shouted, now heavily blushing.

"Don't be so flustered, Ana-nyan. After all, Ise-nyan's fine with this, right, Ise-nyan? Ara, why did you look at me so intensely? Oh my, are you perhaps have fallen in love with me, Ise-nyan?" Kuroka teased Issei.

"I-Ise?!" Ana now switched the target of her shout.

After observing Kuroka for a few more seconds, Issei finally spoke, "You know, you greatly resembled this other girl I know. Both of you have this similar scent."

"Resembling another girl... Similar scent... *gasp* U-um, by chance, does she have white hair and gold eyes?" Kuroka asked frantically.

"Uh, yes, she does. Is she perhaps, your sister?" Issei asked.

"Y-yes, if she's the one I think she is, then she is probably my younger sister, Shirone," Kuroka answered.

"Your sister?" Issei asked.

Kuroka and Ana then explained to Issei of how Kuroka's and Shirone's family used to live in happiness, but then a bunch of Devils attacked the family searching for someone, resulting in their parents' death and their capture. The twist was that the Devils were Rizevim's subordinates that were sent to search for Ana, but found the family by chance. Thinking of the potential the 2 young Nekomata had, Rizevim ordered them to be captured for his experiments and their parents killed. After years of imprisonment, Kuroka managed to break herself and her sister out, but was forced to leave her sister behind to turn the pursuers' attention on her. It's during this chase that she met Ana and became her Bishop. After that, Kuroka had been looking for her sister for years, without any result.

"Damn, then this's bad, really, really bad," Issei muttered.

"W-what's wrong, Ise?" Ana asked.

Issei in turn then explained them about the current situation. About Rias Gremory and her peerage, about Riser Phenex, and the engagement between them.

"N-no... Shirone," Kuroka whispered in panic.

"Calm down, Kuroka. Don't worry, we will save her," Ana said.

"A-Ana...," Kuroka said.

"I'm sorry, Bikou. But looks like you won't have your battle with Ise," Ana said.

"Nah, don't worry about that. The most important thing right now is to save Kuroka's sister from that perverted bird," Bikou said.

"But how are we going to plan to save her, Ana?" Arthur asked.

"Don't worry, from what Ise told, we have a card we can use. I have a plan, but, Ise, I will need your help," Ana said to Issei.

"You just need to ask, Ana. Besides, I also have business with that Chicken," Issei said.

"Alright, now listen well, everyone," Ana said as the female Lucifer's peerage came close together.

* * *

At the day of the wedding, the male members of Ana's peerage could be seen waiting outside of the ballroom where the wedding will take place, including the new holder of the Queen piece. All of them were wearing formal clothes, even Bikou. The only exception was Issei, who was wearing his Hakumen armor.

"Man... How can the girls be so long in getting done? We have sparred for hours before getting here, and yet they still haven't done already!" Bikou loudly complained.

"Just be patient, Bikou. You know girls have much more things to be concerned about than us boys," Arthur said.

"*sigh* I know, I know. But doesn't mean I have to like it, damn it," Bikou muttered.

"If it is any consolation, I think the spar we had was really fun," Issei said.

"Yeah, that's true! You really have a strong punch, Ise, even without that draconic enhancement of yours. And this is the first time I have seen someone going against Arthur's Excalibur Ruler and went unscathed," Bikou said excitedly.

Adjusting his glasses, Arthur said, "Yes, I have to admit I'm quite surprised by how things turn out. Maybe after this we can spar again?"

"Sure. Whatever fancies you!" Issei answered.

"Sorry we're late!"

"Oh hey, A-."

Whatever Issei wanted to say disappeared from his mouth the moment he saw what Ana wore. Le Fay wore a light blue dress with glittering stars adorning it. Kuroka wore a more formal version of her usual kimono except the colors were gold and black with red, but it's what Ana wore that truly captivated Issei. She wore strapless black dress with slit on the left leg and long gloves whose color degraded from black into blue, and then finally white at the skirt part of the dress. The dress had the Lucifer emblem of 12 devil wings on the torso part, but with additional greater pair of wings outside the emblem, colored black and white.

"D-does it look good, Ise?" Ana shyly asked. All of her hair was braided and laid down on her right shoulder.

[Truly a princess, huh?] Albion said.

Issei just nodded dumbfoundedly at both questions.

"Ara ara, it seems our King's brain just short circuited, nya," Kuroka giggled.

"Huh, what?! *cough* W-well, let's go in, shall we?" Issei tried to deflect the attention.

"Ara, don't think you can get away. You still have to accompany our Queen, you know," Kuroka smirked mischievously.

Issei just went silent at that but then offered his arm to Ana.

"Shall we, Ana?"

"Yes," Ana brightly smiled.

"Announcing Valiana Lucifer's peerage," the herald at the door announcing the peerage.

"Her Pawn, Le Fay Pendragon. Her Knight, Arthur Pendragon. Her Bishop, Toujou Kuroka. Her Rook. Her Bishop, Sun Bikou. And Her King, Hakumen."

At the mention of him as Ana's King, the whole place quiet down and looked at him.

[Here comes the pressure.]

'Indeed.'

As the peerage walked into the middle of the ballroom, Kuroka went to look for her sister, with the others accompanying her, leaving Issei and Ana with each other. the first person that unexpectedly met them was the Astaroth's heir.

"So... when were you going to tell me? Were you even going to tell me, Dubh?" Diodora asked with irritated expression on his face, all pretense of Issei's alias forgotten.

"Sorry about that, Astaroth. To be honest, I only met Ana again a few days ago," Issei explained.

"... So, you just become her King a few days ago?" Diodora stared at Issei with resigned eyes.

"Yep," Issei answered.

"Ugh. You suck for an older-brother-in-law, you know. *sigh* Nice to meet you, Milady. I'm Diodora Astaroth, the heir to Astaroth Clan," Diodora then introduced himself to Ana.

"Nice to meet you too, Diodora-san. Brother-in-law... Wait, do you mean?! You and Asia?!" Ana gasped.

"No, no, nothing like that. We're currently just dating right now," Diodora explained.

"Ah, I see... Oh, do you know by chance if Inga is here?" Ana asked. Due to how Ajuka just took the mantle of Beelzebub for this generation before returning it to the original family later, both Beelzebub and Astaroth clans have close relationships.

"Inga? Inga Beelzebub? I'm sorry, Milady. But last I hear, he is on another culinary adventure on the human world," Diodora answered.

"*giggle* That's just so like him, ignoring any social events and just go to the human world."

"If that's all, I ask your permission to excuse myself, Milady. Until then," Diodora then left after excusing himself.

"Hey, Astaroth, not going to leave a message for Asia?" Issei asked.

"I'm going to ask her to a date now anyway. Maou knows I need it after your stupid shenanigans. See you later, Dubh."

"See you later, Astaroth."

"So... The Astaroth heir, huh," Ana spoke after Diodora left.

"He is a cool guy, and Asia can do worse than him. At least he sincerely loves Asia," Issei replied.

"True," Ana smiled.

"And this Inga, is he the Beelzebub heir?" Issei asked.

"Yes. During my training journey, I met the other heirs of the Royal Devil Clans. But as you can see, all of them are... unique," Ana explained.

"Ouch, Ana, you wound me. Does that mean you think of me as abnormal?" a male voice sounded out behind them.

"Huh? Ah, Rin! You're here!" Ana happily exclaimed.

"Lindow Satan here, in the flesh," Lindow grinned.

Lindow was a young man probably 5 years older than Issei. He had short messy black hair and azure blue eyes. When he grinned, his canines seemed to be more pronounced than other devils.

"Nii-san, I told you not too go off on your own," a new voice spoke.

"That's just how he is, Yukio. Let him be," another voice replied.

"Yukio! Calian!" Ana called the new arrivals.

"I see this is your new King, Ana. Yukjerian Satan, just call me Yukio, everyone does. Nice to meet you, Hakumen," Yukio introduced himself.

Yukjerian was a perfect copy of his twin elder brother, if not for the neater hair, glasses and two moles underneath his left eye.

"My name is Calian Leviathan. A pleasure to meet you," Calian introduced himself.

Calian seemed to be of the same age as the Satan heirs. He had shoulder length purplish green hair with bangs that covered his left eye and green eyes.

"Nice to meet all of you as well. Ah, and my real name is Hyoudou-Dubh Issei. Hakumen is just an alias," Issei replied.

"So, what brings you here, Ana?" Lindow asked.

"I can ask you the same, Rin. Let me guess, you know I was coming here and hope she came along. Isn't that right, Rin?" Ana asked with a teasing smile.

"Guh! I-I don't know what you are talking about!" Lindow denied.

"Nii-san, just give up already. Everyone can see it clearly," Yukjerian sighed as he adjusted his glasses.

"*giggle* Sorry, Rin. But she isn't here," Ana consoled Lindow.

"I see...," Lindow muttered sadly.

"And what about you, Calian?"

"You may not know, but Lilitifa is a model for the Gremory. This marriage between the Gremory heiress and the Phenex brat might make him think he can get his hands on her. And you know I will kill him first before he even manages to do that," Calian answered.

"You know that will cause war, right?" Ana sweat dropped.

"So? That would mean my father and I have something productive to do. Well, besides me trying to win Lilitifa's favor, that is," Calian replied nonchalantly.

"Don't worry about that, Calian. I have a plan," Ana assured the Leviathan heir.

"... I don't know why you're doing this, but... Thanks, Ana," Calian smiled in gratitude.

"Then I will take my leave now. I still have someone to see. Bye, guys," Ana giggled and wave.

"See you later, Ana," Calian nodded.

"Bye, Ana!" Lindow waved frantically while Yukjerian tried to restrain his brother.

"That Lindow guy sure is friendly," Issei remarked as they walked,

"Yes, he is. Rin helped me in getting used to Hell when I first arrived here years ago, along with Yukio. I owe them a lot," Ana replied.

"I see. Then I'm grateful to him. Who is this someone you need to meet?" Issei asked.

"Well, since Kuroka went to meet her sister, and the others came along with her, I thought I can also meet my old friend."

"Your old friend?" Issei asked, confused.

"Ana-chan?!" a familiar female voice said to Ana.

"Akeno-chan!" Ana greeted excitedly.

"Eh?" Issei said dumbfoundedly.

Like Kuroka, Akeno was also wearing a formal kimono, except it's not as revealing and black and purple in color.

"Ana-chan, you really came!" Akeno said.

"Of course. How can I let that Chicken get his hands on my friend?" Ana answered.

"Wait, does that mean, he's also here?" Akeno asked in worry.

"No, no, don't worry, he isn't here. In fact, he doesn't know anything about this at all," Ana assured.

"Ara, really? I'm glad. Sometimes he can get really wild like a dog," Akeno said wistfully.

"Don't worry, Akeno-chan. Everything will be fine. I have a plan."

"Ara ara, then I will trust you, Ana-chan," Akeno giggled before she left.

By the time Issei got out of his stupor, Akeno had already left.

"Ana, you know Himejima-san?" Issei asked.

"Un, she's the old friend I'm talking about," Ana answered.

"And this 'he'?"

"He is her boyfriend. Ah, look, it's Sirzechs," Ana said.

Sirzechs Lucifer could be said as the male version of Rias. He had the same shade of hair and eyes as his younger sister. As he stood on the raised dais in his ceremonial robe, it seemed he's going to be the official for the wedding.

As the groom and bride arrived and the wedding process began, Issei could see the Toujou sisters holding each other as they looked towards the going-to-be-married couple with worried expression.

"It seems Kuroka and her sister managed to reconciliate. I'm really happy for them," Ana whispered.

"But it won't mean anything as long as the wedding going through," Issei replied. Ana just nodded in agreement.

As soon as Sirzechs arrived at the part where he asked if there's any objection, he gave a signal towards Ana.

'It's time,' Issei thought.

"I object to this marriage!" Ana shouted, causing murmurs among the guests.

"W-what?! Who said that?" Riser said angrily.

"It's me who said that, Riser-san," Ana said as she and Issei walked through the crowd.

"You... You might be the heiress of Lucifer, but what right you have objecting to Riser's marriage?!"

"It's exactly my right as the future Queen of Hell to do that when you cheated in the Rating Game!"

"Pre-preposterous! Under what evidence you spouted that nonsense?!"

"This evidence!"

Using a magic circle, Ana then showed a recording of the final minutes of the Rating Game. Riser could be seen threatening Rias under the threat of killing her peerage. Koneko and Kiba were being choked by Riser while Akeno was stepped on by him.

"The most important rule of the Rating Game is how there can't be any threats on the participants' life nor any conscious attempts. What have you just done is completely dishonorable!"

With Ana's statement, the guests started to side with Ana and throw some contemptuous glares towards Riser.

"You... Where did you get this?! Only people related to the Rating Game is supposed to know about this!"

"I gave it to her," Issei answered.

"Y-you... You damned lizard!" Riser raged.

"Lizard, really? Is that the best you can do, Chicken?" Issei taunted.

"Y-you bastard...," Riser gritted.

"We have proof of your cheating, Riser-san. Do you have some explanation for this?" Ana asked.

"Explanation?! What does Rise have to explain?! The game is over! Riser won, Rias lost, end of story!"

"But that would really hurt your credentials, Riser-san," Ana frowned.

"Credentials?! What do you know of credentials, you half-human trash!" Riser shouted.

At the word of "half-human trash", Issei got ready to smash Riser to a pulp, but he was beaten to it by two killing intent.

"Hey, chicken brat, putting aside your impolite behavior towards Ana, don't you think you have been too far?" Lindow said as azure flames raged around his body without even burning his clothes. The flame formed a pair of giant horns and a two-pronged tail.

"Usually I would say you are exaggerating things, Nii-san, but this time I have to agree. You are too far, chicken brat...," Yukjerian said. His body was also wreathed in flames, which formed a smaller pair of horns compared to Lindow, and 4 pair of wings.

"T-those are the Azure Flames..."

"The Satan twin heirs must be really angry, if their clan ability manifests completely like that," many of the guests whispered.

"N-no, R-Riser didn't mean it like that, Lindow-sama, Yukjerian-sama," Riser stuttered.

"Oi, brat, you should know that half of the Royal Devil Clans' heirs are half-devil, right? We and Mammon are half human, and don't let me get on the Asmodeus' heiress. Really, brat, do you want to die so much?" Lindow sneered.

At the mention of the Asmodeus' heiress, Riser paled.

"What's wrong with Asmodeus' heiress?" Issei whispered.

"W-well, Layla is not that bad. It's just, she is half-god...," Ana answered.

"Wait, are you saying she is a half-devil... and a demigoddess?!"

"Yeah... Her mother is a goddess," Ana laughed nervously.

Knowing he just dug himself deeper into Ana's accusation, Riser relented.

"Kuh, fine. Let's say Riser cheated, what do you want?! Annulling the wedding?!" Riser said.

"Sort of. We will put your engagement with Rias Gremory, as the bet of a Rating Game," Ana offered, causing the murmurs among the crowd to increase in intensity. They couldn't just directly annul the wedding, as it would still be seen as tyrannical, but they could always use Rating Game as the bait.

"*snort* And say that Riser accept this bet, who is to say that lizard won't spill all he knows about Riser's peerage? He knows about Riser's peerage, while we know nothing about yours. Not to say Riser will lose, but it doesn't seem fair when the stake is this big, does it?" Riser replied.

"That's right. That's why the only one going to fight your peerage is Hakumen," Ana said confidently.

"Hooo, are you so confident that this Lizard can beat me?" Riser asked.

"Then why don't we up the ante a bit? If you win, then I will also marry you as a concubine, and my peerage will also belong to you as well!" Ana offered again, causing an uproar.

"Ana?!" Issei turned his head so fast it might dislocate.

"This's the only way, Ise. You know it. Riser is definitely still wary of you from your last meeting. We need a bait equal to annulling this marriage in order to entice his greed," Ana whispered.

"But does it have to be you?" Issei asked in worry.

Looking at Issei's worried face, even if it was hidden by the helmet, Ana wistfully smiled, "I believe in you, Ise. I know you will win. And... I know you need to do this."

"Ana..."

"Don't worry, Ise. We trust you," Arthur added.

"Big bro is right. You can fight on par with big bro, so that Chicken should be a piece of cake," Le Fay smiled encouragingly.

"Kick his ass for me alright, bro!" Bikou grinned.

"My sister's fate and mine depends on you, Ise-nyan, so you better win," Kuroka said. Somehow the way she said that felt threatening.

"... Alright, leave it to me," Issei answered.

"Finish saying your farewells, Lizard? Then let's go," Riser then left the podium.

"Good luck, Ise. I will root for you," Ana said.

Nodding back, Issei then left following Riser.

* * *

 _And so we have it. Ana's peerage. This fic Leviathan and Satan heirs. And the confrontation against Chicken. I originally intended to include the climax battle scene in here, but as you can see, I don't have the time. And as this's posted, you will realize that the prologue to my RWBY, Persona 3, and DAL fics have also been posted as well. If you're interested, feel free to give them a go._ _ _I won't give you guys false hope that the next chapter will be up anytime soon, but please, cross your fingers. And if any of you have questions, feel free to ask me via PM or review.__

 _May We Meet Again._


	14. Chapter XIII

_I don't know how many times I have said this but... I'm not dead, yet. I was so busy with exams and preparing my thesis. Yes, that's right, I will graduate soon! Hahahahahaha! *cough*_ _Like usual, I thank all of you that have followed and favorited this story, although it has such a very random schedule._ _Anyway, that's it for this author note. Be prepared for the last chapter for PDE's 1st season! Happy Reading!_

 _P.S. I own nothing except the plot, and OCs._

* * *

Chapter XIII

"Welcome, everyone! I, Naud Gamigin, will be the announcer for tonight's Rating Game. Tonight, we shall see the debut Rating Game between the famous Riser Phenex and his peerage, against the lone challenger, the new member of our own Princess of Hell's peerage, her own 'King', the masked dragonkin, Hakumen! How will the Lucifer King fare against this experienced Rating Game player?! We shall see if he is truly worthy to be the Prince of Hell!" the light purple haired devil, Naud Gamigin, announced.

On the circular arena chosen as battlefield, Riser's peerage and Issei could be seen standing in front of each other by a few meters.

"Heh, you can still walk out, you know. Who knows, Riser might let you visit beloved Ana after Riser take her as his concubine," Riser said off-handedly.

"You aren't worthy to say her name, Chicken. Besides, are you sure you aren't the one who wants to walk out?" Issei sneered.

"Hah, take a look at the mirror! Who is the one keeps hiding their face all this time?! Aren't you just a coward?!" Riser replied.

Against Riser's comeback, Issei just chuckled, "Ah, that's right, seeing how my fight here will reflect on Ana's reputation, I think I should come clear then."

Issei then did something no one would expect, even his own peerage, with the exception of the giggling Ana. Grabbing his helmet, Issei then took it off, letting his white and black colored hair free.

"It's quite suffocating there," Issei smirked at Riser.

The significance in this action wasn't the fact that everyone now knew who it was under the helmet, but the fact that Issei's magical signature was no longer suppressed by the armor.

"Y-you, you are a human?!" Riser flustered.

"Half-human. I'm still a dragonkin, remember?" Issei replied.

"To think that a half-breed such as you dare to set foot here. This is sacrilege!" Riser accused.

"Oi, oi. Chicken, did you forget what the Satan twins said?" Issei replied.

"Kuh," realizing his mistake, Riser could only stay silent.

"To think that the Lucifer's King is a half-dragon, this's a surprise indeed. Now, without further ado, let the Game begins!" Naud started the match.

"Grr… Mira, Shuriya, Marion, Burent, attack him from the front. Ni, Li, Ile, and Nel, flank him," Riser commanded.

"Yes, Riser-sama," the Pawns replied, before following Riser's order.

"Riser, don't you think this's high-handed?" Riser's Queen, Yubelluna, asked.

"No, Yubelluna. The half-breed is right. He might be half-human, but he is still a dragon, nonetheless," Riser answered.

"Heh, I'm glad you no longer underestimating me as much as before, Chicken. But this. Is. Still. Nothing!" Issei grinned, as he activated both Cosa and Crúba.

In an instant, Issei was in front of Riser's arguably weakest Pawn, Mira. Sinking his fist into the girl's stomach mercilessly, Issei then grabbed the girl and threw her at Shuriya as hard as he could, resulting in both of them slamming onto the arena' wall.

"2 of Riser's Pawns, retired," a mechanical voice announced.

Surrounded by 6 Pawns, Issei kept going towards the maid pairs while ignoring the two pair of twins coming from his flanks. In shock from how Mira and Shuriya were retired in an instant, both Marian and Burent weren't ready for the half-dragon grabbing their heads and slamming them onto each other. Even with their devils' physique, it would result in at least concussions, and worst scenarios, slight cracks.

"2 of Riser's Pawns, retired."

When the twins came, Issei just ignored them as Ile and Nel slammed their chainsaw on his body while Ni and Li hit his back. They attacked with their full power, yet only scratches appeared on the armor while Issei didn't move even a millimeter.

"You know, I almost regret wearing this armor now. Because you make this too easy!" Issei shouted as he did a spinning kick, throwing the four Pawns away and disarming the chainsaw twins, though none of them got retired.

Grabbing the two chainsaws, Issei dashed and slashed the four Pawns. The Pawns let out painful screams before they got retired. Although they're gone, it's clear that they suffered grievous wounds judging from the amount of blood wetting the ground.

"4 of Riser's Pawns, retired."

"Don't you know that chainsaws are dangerous, Chicken? You shouldn't have let underaged children playing with them," Issei taunted.

"Grr… Enough! Yubelluna, to the air! Ravel stay with me! Everyone else, crush that half-breed!" Riser ordered.

It's evident from their silence that Riser's peerage was too angry to properly answer Riser, so they just followed his order. Meanwhile, on the audience stand, a worried Arthur could be seen talking to Ana.

* * *

"Ana, is it just me, or does Ise seem a bit too… different than when he sparred with us?" Arthur asked.

"It's not your feeling, Arthur. Ise is more… ruthless than when he sparred with you," Ana answered with a frown.

"But why? Did he…"

"If you're going to say he went easy on you and Bikou, you're wrong. It's just… *sigh* My uncle told me about this. About how Ise might take after his father," Ana said.

"His father?" Arthur asked.

"I'm sure you already know who Ise's father by now, right, Arthur?"

"Yes, I have my slight suspicion when Ise introduced himself as Irish and that he also has a dragon as father. But now, without doubt, his father is the Crescent Circle Dragon, Crom-," Arthur about to say, only to be cut off by Ana.

"Shh, don't say it. We can't have everyone knows that Ise's father used to be one of the Evil Dragons," Ana whispered.

Realising his mistake, Arthur just nodded. While being the son of an ex-Evil Dragon sure was something to be proud of, to let the information out now would be too risky since Ise was a newcomer to the supernatural world by the Devils' standard. And most importantly, Ana was afraid that someone might target Ise because of the information. Ana was confident that Ise was capable of facing any enemies, but she still didn't want him to face such risks if he could.

"It's just, my uncle said how Ise's father was really infamous for his battle maniac tendency and bloodthirst back during his era. While they have been… calm until now, certain situations can make those instincts returned subconsciously, just like what happened to Ise now," Ana explained.

"So basically, the more serious, and life-risking a battle is, the more excited and ruthless Ise will be?" Arthur concluded.

"Yes. After all, his father isn't also called the Crooked Slaughterer without a reason…," Ana said, her frown deepened.

'Please, Ise. Please don't lose yourself…,' Ana prayed in her mind.

* * *

[Still want to hold back, Issei?] Albion asked.

'Yeah, I'm saving you for the grand finale, after all,' Issei answered.

[As you wish. Just don't get too overconfident,] Albion advised.

'I know, but that's exactly why I'm saving you. I don't know how strong Riser's immortality is. Gotta save my trump card for the Chicken,' Issei reasoned.

[A wise decision, true. By the way, from above,] Albion warned as Riser's Knights, Karlamine and Siris, descended from the air for overhead strikes with their sword and Zweihander respectively.

'Tch, if it's just them without the Queen, I can probably just tank them all. But while I'm resistant to the Queen's explosions' flame, those shockwaves are really annoying,' Issei thought as he stepped backwards, dodging the sword and the Zweihander and then the following explosions casted by Yubelluna.

"Chance!" Riser's Rooks, Isabela and Xuelan, said as they rushed towards Issei with fists ready.

Coldly looking at the Rooks, Issei now chose to stay at his place rather than retreating like before. Dodging the Rooks' fists, Issei discretely observed Riser's Queen that was flying in the sky. Once he saw that the Queen was once again ready to cast her explosions and the Rooks retreated from the explosions zone, Issei grabbed one of the retreating Rooks quickly and then threw her at Yubelluna. Yubelluna, not expecting Issei to make such move, didn't manage to cancel her magic in time.

"Xuelan!" the masked Rook, Isabela, shouted as she saw her partner was hit by their ally's magic.

"1 of Riser's Rooks, retired."

"Don't lose your focus," Issei spoke softly as he dashed towards the still stunned Isabela. Isabela didn't manage to defend herself before Issei grabbed her head slammed it to his knee, shattering the mask in the process. Releasing the Rook, the already unconscious Rook was then retired.

"1 of Riser's Rooks, retired."

[Issei, what's with you and cracking people's skulls,] Albion remarked.

'I don't know. I just feel that cracking skulls are… very refreshing,' Issei answered.

* * *

"You're a bad influence on our son," a frowning Tomoe could be seen in the Hyoudou-Dubh residence as she watched her son's performance through a TV.

"Well, to be honest, I'm not surprised, remembering who his father is," Azazel surprisingly was also there, as he's also the one that made the TV able to show the Rating Game.

Chrome, who was strangely silent from the beginning of the fight, now spoke, "Tomoe, if Issei isn't capable of at least this much, then it's either I fail in training him, or he is not my son at all. Remember, I might be a family man now, but I'm still the Crescent Circle Dragon, the Crooked Slaughter, and the Vanguard of Balor."

A discomforted Tomoe replied, "But…"

"Tomoe, I didn't remember you being this hesitant about cracking or crushing skulls, or even outright slaughter back during the wars," Chrome countered as he looked at his wife.

"T-those are wars," Tomoe reasoned.

"And the family that I burnt down to the ground?" Chrome continued. Tomoe could only stay silent at the mention of that.

Returning his sight to the TV, Chrome coldly said, "That is a battlefield, Tomoe, and therefore war. There is no such thing as mercy for the weak in the battlefield. That only exists in stupid dramas and fairytales. War is cruel and merciless. And moreover, that lowly avian has messed with a dragon's pack, OUR pack. And until he proves himself as either a worthy opponent or worthy to be kept alive, then he shall be prey to be killed and eaten. And if our son isn't capable of doing it? I will."

Looking back at Issei's fight, Tomoe was glad that she had told Asia to buy ingredients for dinner that morning, knowing that with her current abilities, she should be able to protect herself. She didn't think her daughter was ready yet to see this side of the family.

'Issei…,' Tomoe thought in worry, while Azazel just stared at the frowning mother with a stoic face.

* * *

"2 of Riser's Knights, retired."

After the announcement, Issei then dropped the sword and Zweihander he used to eliminate the original owners of the weapons. Looking at the only one left of the attackers besides the Queen, Issei snorted at the kimono-wearing Bishop.

"Pitiful," Issei said before he suddenly disappeared. Before anyone could react, Issei's fist sunk in the Bishop's stomach, instantly putting the latter into unconsciousness.

"1 of Riser's Bishop, retired."

"Now, only 3 of you left," Issei stated as he looked at the remains of Riser's peerage. Ravel, the last Bishop and Riser's younger sister, hid behind her brother in fear. The audiences have now murmured among themselves for what they thought as overkill for the Phenex peerage

"Isn't that too much?"

"But it's 16 against one."

"But does he have to be that cruel?"

"Well, Riser did mess with his Queen. And I've heard that messing with a dragon's pack is a fool's errand."

"Tell me about it. I've heard rumors on how kingdoms have felled because someone foolishly insulted or even somehow killed a dragon's mate."

Such murmurs could be heard throughout the arena. Unconsciously, Ana started to bite her lips in response to the whispers, while Issei, ignoring the murmurs about him if he even heard them, just focused on the enemies in front of him.

'Albion, now,' Issei thought.

[Alright,] Albion responded.

"Grr… Yubelluna!" Riser shouted to his Queen. Yet before any of them could do anything, something that they clearly didn't expect happen.

"[Dragon Divider!]"

The Divine Dividing appeared on Issei's back, stunning all who watched it, except his own peerage, of course.

* * *

"So, Ise has finally used Divine Dividing. Took him long enough," Bikou said in annoyance.

"It can't be helped, Bikou. We don't know the extent of Riser's so-called immortality. To use Divine Dividing now when Riser's peerage only has him and Yubelluna as able combatants is a wise move," Arthur said.

"Still… this feels so unfair with Ise not going all out from the start," Bikou reasoned.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Arthur over this matter, Bikou. The risk is too high in this battle to fight fair," Kuroka seriously said, tightening her hold on her sister that sat on her lap.

"… *sigh* I'm afraid you're right," Bikou finally relented.

The only member of the peerage that didn't say anything, Le Fay, just looked at her Queen who clenched her hands so hard that it started to bleed.

* * *

"Wha-?" Riser said in stupor in the realisation that his current enemy was the White Dragon Emperor, only to notice Issei was no longer on his place before.

"Wait, where is-"

[Divide!] the sound of the Sacred Gear could be heard from above.

Looking upwards, fearing that his enemy would surprise attack him in his stupor, what Riser found was instead the dragonkin kicking his Queen until she slammed the ground. Jumping from the crater that he made, Issei held in his hand a vial. Opening the vial and drinking the content, Issei could feel himself being rejuvenated.

"Ah, so this's what Phoenix Tears tasted like. True, it's very useful," Issei said as he threw off the empty vial.

"You… How do you know about the Phoenix Tears?" Riser asked in disbelief.

"C'mon, Riser. Anyone who bothered to read the rules on Rating Game would know that each team can bring two vials of Phoenix Tears. And while it's pretty obvious I won't have any, the same can't be said about you, a member of the Phenex Clan itself, right? Besides, now we can have a fair fight where each of us is in his prime condition," Issei said.

"Fair fight? Fair fight?! Then what about the massacre that you did to my peerage?!" Riser shouted in anger.

"If I didn't do that, would you deign yourself to fight me directly, Riser? If I didn't beat them thoroughly and bait you to use your full power, I'm sure you will find excuses to make the result of this Rating Game invalid, that's why," Issei sneered.

"Full power?! Full power?! Fine, you asked for it, Lizard! I will fight you with full power!" Riser finally snapped as a pair of wings made of blazing flames appeared on his back instead of the traditional Devil's wings. Dashing towards Issei, Riser threw a fist at the latter's face, only to be caught.

"You know, I just realised that you no longer speak in third person, good. But still, this's not enough to defeat me, Chicken," Issei taunted.

[Divide!]

"Raaahhhh!" Issei shouted as he punched Riser's face back, except that this punch hit Riser. The punch managed to throw Riser quite far before he stopped. Riser's jaw was dislocated as a result of the punch.

"Oi, really, that's it? You're pathetic, Chicken."

After finished saying that though, Riser rose back, his jaw was aflame for a bit before being completely healed. Touching his jaw to check it, Riser looked at Issei again before taunting back.

"That's just a test, Lizard. Now this's my real power."

Propelled by his fiery wings, Riser managed to deliver a punch so fast that Issei didn't manage to block it. Now it's Issei's turn to be thrown across the arena, and even slammed to the arena's wall. As Issei's body fell from the crater on the wall, a hole could be seen on the armor.

"Ahhh, damn, now that's more like it," Issei coughed a bit.

"Now, shall we fight, Lizard?" Riser asked as he settled into a stance.

"He, he, he, he. Ha, ha, ha, ha! Bring it on, Chicken!" Issei laughed as he lunged at the Phenex.

The battle between them was nothing like the ones before in the arena. It was intense, terribly intense. Punches and kicks were thrown around by the two combatants. While the fights before between Issei and Riser's peerage were quite short either because he was that strong or Riser's peerage was underestimating him, the current one showed why Riser deserved his reputation in Rating Game.

While everyone thought that the fight was even, it was not. Each of Riser's attacks that hit left at least a bruise on Issei's body, and yet any of the wounds Riser received from Issei was healed instantly because of his clan's power, even with constant Divide from Issei.

[Issei... This's bad,] Albion warned.

'Yeah, I know. I know that Phenex Clan has insane regeneration ability, but this's out of my expectation,' Issei replied.

'Just how much demonic power this guy has to be able to keep healing himself even with all of the Divides I've inflicted upon him,' Issei thought, yet that slight negligence was all that Riser needed to deliver an uppercut on Issei's jaw.

"Damn...," Issei groaned as he landed a few meters away from Riser.

'Shit, if this keeps going, I might lose...'

"Is that all you got, Lizard?! I thought you're better than this!" Riser taunted.

"Tch, you've seen nothing, you damned Chicken," Issei said as he wiped a trickle of blood from his chin.

"*snort* Admit it, Lizard, you miscalculate. You thought that with your power and Divine Dividing you can handle my immortality. Heh, you're wrong, and now you're going to suffer because of what you've done to my girls," Riser grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

* * *

"I thought dragons are supposed to be very resistant against attacks like that," Azazel commented as he saw the fight.

"Mature dragons, maybe, but Issei isn't one, yet," Chrome replied.

"And what marks one as a mature dragon?" Azazel asked.

"Well, the opinions vary, but most agree that a dragon can be deemed as mature when they can summon their own flame. And for my son's case, he would probably unlock his wings as well," Chrome answered.

"I see...," Azazel said.

"All in all, this's good for Issei. Being pressured is one of the fastest ways for a dragonling to unlock their flame," Chrome added as he lied back on the sofa.

"Show them, Issei. Show them the power of the son of Crescent Circle Dragon," Chrome grinned.

* * *

"GAAAHHH!" Issei screamed as he was thrown to the ground again by Riser.

"Now where is your confidence, Lizard?!" Riser taunted.

"Ugh...," Issei groaned as he crouched on the ground.

'Damn, some of my ribs are broken. That Chicken is no joke,' Issei's thought as he touched his chest to check his injuries.

'Hahaha, if I knew things would turn out like this, I wouldn't have gone overkill on his peerage,' Issei laughed in his mind.

"You know, Lizard, I changed my mind. I won't make the Lucifer heiress my concubine. No, she will be more than that. I will turn her into my... sex slave," Riser smirked at the end, causing uproar in the whole arena.

"Oi, isn't this too much?!"

"Fucking Chicken!"

"But... isn't that completely within his right once they're married?"

"That will only happen if the half-dragon loses though."

"Who cares? The heiress is just a half-breed. I say she deserves it for being so audacious."

"Yeah, a half-breed as the Princess of Hell? Preposterous."

Such conversations could be heard from the audiences in the arena. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Princess was focusing her whole attention on her childhood friend.

Gritting his teeth, Issei spoke to the person responsible for the uproar, "Riser, this matter is between the two of us. Don't bring Ana into this."

"Heh, why can't I? Once you lose, the Princess will be mine to take, so why can't I do this?" Riser boasted.

"Riser...," Issei growled, an emotion not unlike his feeling about Ana's grandfather growing in his heart.

"Heh, to think you can beat me. Sure, I applaud you for being able to defeat my peerage, but I am immortal, Lizard! You will never defeat me!"

Clenching his hands hard, Issei terribly wanted to rip Riser into shreds for what he had said, but he knew the Phenex was right. The latter's immortality was too strong for him, way out of his expectations.

Unknown to any who watched the Game, except maybe his parents watching from their home, Issei's body started to release heat.

"And once again, my offer still stands, I can let you come visit if you want to. Maybe I'll even let you watch when I do her."

But even so, he had promised her.

The heat kept becoming hotter.

"I'll let you watch how I turn your beloved Queen into my plaything."

To protect her. To never let anything hurt her.

The heat was hot enough at this point that it caused heat haze like effect.

"How she begs for me to take her."

For she was her beloved friend, part of the pack.

The heat haze now was strong enough that the air around Issei blurred, just like a mirage.

"How she begs me to do it harder."

And he would do and sacrifice anything to protect her. Consequences be damned.

The heat haze was so intense that everyone in the arena could feel it. All except Riser who was so busy boasting.

"How she begs me to-," Riser suddenly stopped, as he realised that Issei had somehow disappeared.

"Wait, where did he-" Riser was cut off as something invisible crashed into him, the only reaction he could do was to think how hot it was suddenly.

As the audience tried to puzzle out just what had happened, the air around where Issei was before flickered, showing him one moment and not the next. As if there was an invisible flame covering him. As the flame receded enough so that everyone could see him, the audiences could see that the half-dragon's appearances had changed.

A new pair of scaly wings came out besides the Divine Dividing, making Issei had 2 pairs of wings now. The new wings were white in color, with black flame-like patterns on them. Other than the wings, Issei's hands and feet had changed into claws, incorporating the draconic enhancement into them. And lastly, a pair of black horns grew from Issei's head, making his looks more draconic, or even demonic.

* * *

"Wow, I never expect the horns. I guess he gets that from you, Tomoe," Chrome commented on Issei's new form. Ignoring her husband, Tomoe was still frowning while looking at her son's fight.

"*sigh* C'mon, Tomoe, cheer up. I'm sure our kid will make the right decision regarding the bird. He's my son as much as yours, after all. C'mon, you should be proud that our son gets your horns," Chrome tried to cheer Tomoe as he pulled her to cuddle with him on the sofa.

Sighing, Tomoe finally relaxed and snuggled into her husband, "I guess... I'm just gotten lax after all these years. I mean, the wars stopped, we finally could settle down in peace, we had Issei, and then suddenly Asia and Ana joined the family, along with her little peerage. It's just, I sometimes wish things will never change, you know. That things will stay the same forever."

"And yet you know things exactly will never stay the same after the incident with Rizevim 10 years ago," Chrome replied.

"Yeah... I guess I can only hope for the best then," Tomoe relented as Chrome played with her white hair.

"By the way, Azazel, what the fuck are you doing hiding behind my table?" Chrome turned to look at the pathetically hiding and shivering Azazel.

"Y-you mean, y-you didn't recognize your son's flame?" Azazel stuttered.

"Now that you talk about it... I at first think that it's a combination of my flame and Tomoe's ability, but do you have any idea about it?" Chrome raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's-"

* * *

In a castle quite a distance away from the arena where Issei and Riser fought, two male devils could be seen drinking tea on a table.

The first one, a middle-aged looking man with black hair and peaceful violet eyes, stopped when he felt something familiar coming from the direction of the arena.

"What is it, Father?" another black-haired man with violet eyes that seemed to be a bit younger than the first one, asked.

"... Dialka, are there anything of note happen today?" the first man asked back.

"Huh? Tch, let me check," the younger man, Dialka, furiously checked a journal.

"*sigh* Thousands of years and yet still can't remember the daily news in Hell, Dialka?" the first man asked exasperatedly.

"Shut up, old man. You know I prefer fighting than being the head of the clan like this. Ah, I find it. It says here that there's a Rating Game between the Lucifer girl's new King and the Phenex brat's whole peerage. Hoo, really interesting. I wonder whether the King is really that strong or he is just being idiotically arrogant," Dialka grinned.

"Hm... I see...," the older man said as he sipped his drink again.

"Why the question, Father?" Dialka asked.

"Nothing. Just, an old man curiosity," the older man answered.

'This feeling... Have you returned to us, Your Majesty?' the first Bael, Zekram Bael, reminisced.

* * *

As Issei flexed his new claws, he saw Riser finally returned after being thrown away before. There were burns all over his skins, most of them third-degree burns. Amazingly, none of them seemed to be healed by Riser's ability.

"You... What the hell is that?" Riser gasped as he suffered a great deal amount of pain from the last attack.

"What else? It's my dragon flame, Chicken. And apparently, it's very effective against you. Just give up, Riser," Issei said. Though he said that confidently, the wounds he received from Riser was still there.

"As if. I won't lose to you, Hakumen," Riser indignantly replied.

"... Issei, that's my real name. Not Hakumen, but Issei, Hyoudou-Dubh Issei," Issei said.

"I see... Then, shall we continue, Hyoudou-Dubh Issei?" Riser readied himself.

"Of course, Riser Phenex," Issei said as he reignited his flames, which once again covered him as if he was half-invisible. Then with a roar, they once again continued their battle.

"RRRRAAAAAHHHH!"

On the background, Azazel's explanation could be hear.

"Let's see, where to begin this."

While Riser's new burns wouldn't heal like usual, Issei was also limited by his previous wounds, evening the field once again.

"Issei's flame, is, was, the original Lucifer's flame. A long time ago, back when he was still an Angel and known as Helel."

Yet, as Riser's attacks no longer as effective as before due to Issei's newfound strengthened defense through his draconic awakening, Issei's flame was super effective against Riser.

"It's Lucifer's original ability, gifted by the Biblical God to his First Angel. It's known by many names, such as the First Holy Flame, the God's Judgement, and others. But its true name is, Flame of Phantasm."

Moreover, the flame's ability helped Issei in hiding from Riser's more direct attack, forcing the latter to use more area-of-effect attacks.

"As you can see, the flame's name isn't just for show. The flame doesn't just have really strong holy properties, it's also terribly hot, ending up way after the blue color in the light spectrum. It causes this weird effect where it doesn't only turn invisible, but also hides the user. At normal state, it just cloaks the user, hiding them, but if fully unleashed, the flame will cause a flare wave that engulfs and incinerates all that it passes in an instant. Comparable, if not stronger, to the gods of flame from various pantheons. The only ones I can think of that are capable of the same feat are the likes of Kagutsuchi, and he can burn the whole continent to cinders. This's why Lucifer was, is the strongest of all of the Angels, and later on, the Devils, the Morningstar, the Devil King."

Though Issei's mastery of his new flame was minimum at best, he still managed to control and use his flame as best as he could. He subconsciously realised that his flame was really dangerous to beings like Devils, and hurting Ana was the one thing he didn't want to do the most. And so, slowly, steadily, he managed to corner Riser.

"After Lucifer became a Devil, most of the ability turned into Lucifer Clan's current ability, Eternal Void, with what left of the flame then given to the original Satan, then Satanael, becoming the Satan Clan's Azure Blaze. With the return of the flame, well, it's obvious what else will follow. Your son is no longer just the White Dragon Emperor, Chrome. He is also the second-coming of Lucifer, the second Morningstar. He is now, the Phantasm Dragon Emperor."

"This's it, Riser. This is the end. TAKE THIS!" Issei opened his jaw wide and unleashed a blast of invisible flame like the one he did against Rise before. Except that this time, it was clearly stronger than before.

"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Riser returned fire as he unleashed a blast of hellfire of his own. At first, it seemed Riser's blast was stronger, but then Issei's flame slowly overpowered Riser's bit by bit.

"DAMNNNN ITTTTT!" Riser gritted as he used all of his might to push back.

"I WIN, RISER!" Issei shouted as he gave a last push, his flame engulfing Riser in an explosion that blew all of the audiences in the arena and even outside of it.

As the smoke from the explosion receded, everyone was holding their breath to see what remained of Riser. When the smoke disappeared completely, the body of Riser could be seen, still breathing from the movement of the chest, though unconscious and badly burned. The latter was nothing that couldn't be healed by advanced healing magic though.

"R-Riser Phenex is unconscious, and therefore is retired. With the King of Riser's peerage retired, Riser Phenex's peerage has lost. The winner of the Rating Game is the sole contender from Princess Valiana Lucifer's peerage, the King, the Hakuryuukou, Hyoudou-Dubh Issei!" Naud Gamigin loudly announced, drawing loud cheers from all of the audiences. At his name announced as the winner and the cheers, Issei lifted his clenched left claw high, drawing more cheers.

"Ise!" the screaming form of Ana could be seen as she ran and jumped to the arena, to the panic of her peerage, including Issei.

"A-Ana?!" Issei caught his childhood friend by reflect as the latter started to hug Issei really hard.

"A-Ana? M-my ribs. T-they're broken. Ouch!"

"Do you realise how worried I am, you muscle headed reptile?!" Ana screamed as she cried.

"B-but you know as well as I that I mustn't lose," Issei reasoned.

"But do you have to risk yourself this much in the process?!"

"Uh, well, um, the battle wouldn't be as fun and exciting as this then," Issei nervously said as he looked elsewhere.

"... Ise...," Ana responded by tightening her hold over her childhood friend.

"Gaahh! A-Ana! M-my ribs! Agghh! I-I can't breathe! Ugghhh! I-I'm sorry, alright! Hey, I'm dying here!"

As the Lucifer Princess kept punishing her battle maniac King, now surrounded with the rest of her happy peerage, the scene changed into that of Zekram Bael and Azazel drinking tea from two different locations, the latter having calmed considerably.

"And thus, a new era begins for this world."

* * *

 _And so ends the 1st season of PDE. After this, we will begin the 2nd season with the Excalibur arc, after a short break for me to come up with more awesomeness. Anyway, here is a small sneak peek._

 _"I AM ZARATHOS! THE FALLEN ANGEL OF JUSTICE! THE SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE! YOU KILLED ME, PREPARE TO DIE!"_

 _That's the sneak peek. Anyway, returning the chapter itself. I'm sure many of you wants Issei to kill Riser, but that will be too much, and as you can guess, Issei, who is actually more alike to his father than others might realize, considers Riser a worthy opponent, if not a good punching bag. If you have any questions, feel free to ask either via review or PM, and I will try to asnwer them if they don't contain spoilers. That's it for now._

 _May We Meet Again._


	15. Chapter XIV

_So... Fear not, for I have returned! Yes indeed, this lazy author with time management issue has actually returned with the newest chapter of Phantasm Dragon Emperor!_ _Like usual, firstly I thank all of you that have followed and favorited this story, although it has such a very random schedule, and hasn't been updated in 6 months._ _Anyway, I'm sure none of you care about this author note and just want to go directly to the story, so, without further ado, here comes PDE's 2nd season 1st chapter! Happy Reading!_

 _P.S. I own nothing except the plot, and OCs. I mean, really, if I actually own Highschool DxD, a new volume would probably be released once a decade.  
_

* * *

Chapter XIV

"Mou... Why do these piles of paperwork keep increasing no matter how fast I work...," a silver haired girl could be seen sitting on a desk while her blue eyes looking over the report in her hands. This girl was none other than the Princess of Hell, Valiana Lucifer, or as her close friends like to call her, Ana. Right now, she was working on the paperwork that had piled up in her office due to her escapade in the human world for a week.

"Next time, you should at least do all of your jobs properly in advance if you want to go off to the human world for a week, Ana," Yukjerian Satan, one of the Satan twin heirs, admonished her as he helped her in her work while working on his own.

"Well, I was too excited to see him as fast as I could when Azazel finally said it's fine for me to meet him again. After all, we hadn't seen each other for a decade. Still, why would they give this much work to us now, anyways? Sirzechs won't step down from his position as the interim Lucifer anytime soon, after all," Ana complained.

"Well, you know what they say, better sooner than later, right? Better learn what your responsibility as an heir now rather than later when you will have too much on your plate to divide your time properly," Lindow Satan, Yukjerian's older brother, said.

"And yet you will only do your work if either Mother or I remind you, Nii-san," Yukjerian remarked.

"Ugh..., stop bringing that up every damn time, will you, Yukio," Lindow complained.

"Still, it's quite a surprise to not see your peerage here helping you with work these last few days, Ana. Especially with the addition of Ise to your peerage," Yukio said to Ana.

"Today Kuroka is spending her time with her younger sister again, Le Fay and Bikou are still in the progress of decorating our new clubroom, and Arthur is sparring with Kiba as Ise is not here," Ana answered.

"Where is that King of yours anyway?" Lindow asked.

Frowning, Ana answered, "Well, he said to me a few days ago that his grandparents were calling his family for a sudden family reunion, and that his uncles also wanted to do the same."

"Grandparents? Uncles? I presume they are from his mother's side as his father is... like that," Yukjerian said, unsure.

"I'm not sure myself. Ise and his family suddenly just started to pack things up and then told me and the others to watch over the house for a few days until they returned. It's been a few days, so I'm sure he will return soon."

"By the way, how is the school life so far for you, Ana?" Lindow asked.

Hearing the question, Ana remembered the first day when she and her peerage transferred to Kuoh Academy.

* * *

 _"My name is Arthur Pendragon. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Arthur introduced himself politely, charming quite the number of girls with his foreign looks and noble demeanor._

 _"The name is Bikou, Sun Bikou. Nice to meet ya!" Bikou said energetically, drawing some welcoming shouts from the male members of the class._

 _"My name is Toujou Kuroka. Hope we can get along splendidly, nyaa...," Kuroka purred seductively, drawing a different kind of welcoming shouts from the male students than Bikou's._

 _It's been a few days since the battle with Riser's peerage. Now that everything had settled into a relative peace once again, Ana and her peerage finally decided it's time to transfer to Kuoh Academy, since Issei went to school there, with Ana, Arthur, Bikou, and Kuroka transferred to the Second Year while Le Fay transferred to the First Year, same as Asia. It's only proper if the whole peerage could be together as much as possible, after all. It's not helped by the fact that both Chrome and Tomoe, primarily the latter, had finally succeeded in convincing the peerage to move in permanently to the Hyoudou-Dubh residence. If they're going to attend the same school as Issei and be in the human world most of the time, why not just live with them instead of searching for other accommodations?_

 _"My name is Valiana Cifer. You can call me Ana. Nice to meet you," Ana said politely, not unlike Arthur. And just like Arthur, many boys managed to get charmed by Ana._

 _"Alright, alright, stay calm, everyone. Now if anyone has any question for our transfer students. Yes, Kiryuu?" the homeroom teacher pointed to a girl that lifted her hand._

 _The girl wore spectacles, with golden eyes and messy brown hair tied into braids on each side. Her name was Kiryuu Aika, infamously known for her perverseness, not unlike Matsuda and Motohama._

 _"Well, I have heard some rumors, but is it true that you're dating Hyoudou-kun, Ana-san?" Aika asked, having accidentally heard the discussion Motohama and the others had a few weeks ago. The question threw the whole class into an uproar, with all of the students besides Motohama, Matsuda, Murayama, and Katase looking at Issei and Ana._

 _"So that's the so called 'childhood friend'? Wow, she's even prettier than I imagined," Murayama whispered._

 _"That's Issei for you, even I'm impressed," Motohama whispered back._

 _"Still, knowing Issei, he will probably deny it."_

 _"Uh..., well, I'm not..., Ana and I, we are not...," Issei stammered in surprise against the sudden question. Yet right when he's going to deny that he and Ana were not dating at all, his eyes caught Ana's for but a moment before the latter turned her face while heavily blushing._

 _"... Never mind," Issei said uncharacteristically before looking elsewhere with his face becoming a bit red as well._

 _"Or maybe not," Motohama remarked in surprise for the sudden development._

 _Issei's indecisive answer sent the whole class into a greater uproar, one that wouldn't abate until the second break._

* * *

"Ana? Ana?! Valiana?! Can you hear me?!" Yukjerian tried to snap Ana out of her stupor.

"It's no use, Yukio. She's off in her own world. Look she is even unconsciously playing with the scarf that the boy gave her. Tsk, girls in love, typical," Lindow sighed.

The scarf in question was a blue colored scarf Issei gifted to Ana the day after the Rating Game with Riser. It was, in Issei's words, a "welcome home" gift to her, and also because Hell could be surprisingly cold at times although it was called Hell.

"... Like you're one to talk, Nii-san," Yukjerian deadpanned while staring at his elder with judging eyes.

"Oi, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Lindow snapped.

Before any arguments could break out between the two brothers, a white and black colored magic circle appeared on the floor of the office. The only one that could instantly teleport to the place was either Ana's own peerage or special people that had permission like Lindow and Yukjerian, but Arthur's and the others' magic circle was like those of the Lucifer Clan's, and Lindow and others like him used their own clan's magic circle, therefore there could only be one person the magic circle belonged to.

"When I got to the clubroom, Le Fay said that you're here working on the paperwork so I got here as fast as I could. I'm really sorry that I couldn't help you these few days, Ana. Eh? Oh, I see Rin and Yukio are here as well today. Good afternoon," the Lucifer King, Hyoudou-Dubh Issei, greeted the twin heirs.

Looking at the oblivious Issei and Ana who was still off in her own world, Lindow thought it was time to get out of the place and leave the two lovebirds.

"Hey, Ise! Oh yeah, I just remembered, Yukio and I have an urgent business, so we will take our leave now that you are here. See you later, Ise, Ana! Let's go, Yukio!" Lindow promptly grabbed Yukjerian and then teleported them out of the place before the latter could even protest.

"... What's getting them in such a hurry?" Issei asked in confusion while scratching his head.

[Maybe something to do with the Satan Clan?] Albion said helpfully.

"Maybe... But now isn't the time to think about that. Hey, Ana. Ana? Ana?! Hey, snap out of it!" Issei shouted near Ana's ear to snap her out of whatever she was in.

"Hah?! Uh, where are- *gasp* Issei?! When did you return?!" Ana asked, only now realizing Issei's presence in the room.

"*sigh* That's it, you clearly have been working for too long. I'm going to bring you back to the clubroom whether you're willing or not. You totally need to rest," Issei pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation before grabbing Ana's hand.

"Eh? Ah? Uh, maybe you're right...," Ana replied.

"... If you can just accept it like that, then you must be totally exhausted. Normally you will at least fight a bit. Now c'mon, I will teleport us out of here," Issei said before teleporting the two of them through his magic circle.

* * *

Issei and Ana arrived in a room located just under the ORC clubroom which belonged to Rias' peerage. Publicly, the room was the clubroom of the MRC, or the Mythology Research Club, a similar but different in study subject to the club upstairs in which Issei, Ana, her peerage, and surprisingly, Asia, were the members of. In truth, the club was the front that the Student Council President, one Sona Sitri, prepared for Ana's peerage in case they had to be absent from school because of supernatural matters or something similar. That way they could use club activity as a smokescreen. Still, Issei couldn't believe all of the student body believed it when the members were all made of the new transfer students with the exception of him and to an extent, Asia.

"I still can't believe Sitri-senpai made a new club out of thin air and then gave this clubroom to us just like that," Issei said upon arriving.

"Well, like I said, I'm pretty sure it's easier and more convenient for Sona-senpai as the Student Council President this way. She takes her role seriously, after all. But still, where is everyone? Last I remembered, Le Fay and Bikou still should be here decorating the room," Ana frowned.

Right at that moment, Le Fay came into the room in panic, "Uwaa! Ana, Ise, help! It's a really big mess right now upstairs!"

Grabbing Le Fay's shoulders, Ana tried to calm her down, "Calm down, Le Fay. Now tell me slowly, what happened?"

After composing herself, Le Fay answered, "A few minutes ago, three members of the Church came here, saying that some of the Excalibur fragments under the Church's supervision was stolen and that the thief was traced to here. Now they're asking us for our assistance in the matter."

"Let me guess, they're passive aggressively saying that we somehow are behind the thief's action?" Ana asked patiently.

"Y-yeah, but not only that. They're also subtly insulting the Devils in general. Big Brother already has a hard time in holding back Bikou and Kuroka, yet Yuuto-senpai also somehow doesn't help in calming them down and instead becomes really aggressive all of a sudden," Le Fay said in worry.

"Since it's regarding Excalibur, no wonder Yuuto is pissed," Issei added. Being near Arthur's Excalibur Ruler for most of the day, it was only a matter of time until Yuuto finally snapped and challenged Arthur to a duel. Yuuto lost, but Ana's peerage finally knew about Yuuto's history with Holy Swords, especially with Excalibur. Since Excalibur was the Pendragon's family heirloom, Arthur would never let it be destroyed, so he and Yuuto then decided to make a compromise.

"I see... I think I get the picture. Let's go before the situation escalates any further, Ise," Ana said decisively before going to the ORC clubroom upstairs.

"Well, this might be a good opportunity to finally return Excalibur to its rightful owner," Issei replied as he followed his Queen.

"Let's just hope that the situation isn't bad enough that it can't be salvaged. With the ceasefire between the Three Factions being as fragile as it is, we can't afford to incur the Church's enmity and risk the relative peace we have right now," Ana said as they neared the ORC clubroom.

"Don't worry, Ana. Even I'm not that impulsive. By the way, Le Fay, Asia was told by my mother to drop something off in the clubroom. I assume she's with the others then?" Issei asked Le Fay.

"Huh? Oh, yes, Asia-chan arrived just moments before the Church members came, and so unfortunately was dragged into this. We tried to hide her as much as we can, knowing her past with the Church, but with Bikou and Kuroka losing their temper and Big Brother holding them off, only I was left to hide her. Uuuu, I hope nothing happened to her while I was gone...," Le Fay bit her lip in worry.

"Don't worry, Le Fay, I'm sure those Church members wouldn't dare to do anything to her..., or else," Issei said with narrowed eyes. Right as Issei said that though...

"To think that you really are associating with the Devils to the point of changing your appearance. Your past as 'Holy Maiden' must be weeping right now with how far you have fallen, 'Witch'," a female voice could be heard.

"That's enough, Xenovia, no need to make her suffer more. Instead, shouldn't we as followers of God be merciful and exorcise her? Isn't that also what you want, Sister Asia? Surely if you're a true follower of Our Lord, then you would rather die rather than continue to live in sin, aren't you?" another female voice said to Asia.

"H-hey, i-isn't that too far...?" a third voice weakly said.

"T-that is... I...," Issei then heard Asia's voice full of fear and terror, during which Issei finally decided that enough was enough.

Sweeping his left arm, Issei burned down the whole wall where to door into the ORC clubroom was. In an instant, there was no trace left of the wall. In the room, Issei could see the rest of Ana's peerage, Rias' peerage, the crying Asia, and three persons he never saw before, obviously the Church members. Yet all of his attention was on his crying little sister who was now being hugged by both Le Fay and Ana.

Turning to the three Church members, that Issei just realised were girls, not that he cared as none of them would be left soon, Issei sneered, "If you want someone to die that badly, why don't you just kill yourselves? Isn't that what you do best? Dying uselessly like insects, all in the name of your so-called Son of God?!With how fanatically loyal you are, I bet you'd all commit suicide without question if you asked to do so and think of it as martyrdom! But that isn't even the worst of it, because if you can't even think for yourselves, I'm certain that if you were to be tested about a request to kill your beloved God to save the world with a hidden message behind it, you'd probably kill him without any further thought and fail that test, dooming many people that rely on him to survive! That's the extent of the idiocy of your kind!"

"Y-you dare?!" the girl whose voice Issei heard the first time said in wrath.

"Xenovia, stop," the second girl put her arm in front of the first girl. "And just who do you think you are, sinner, to talk to the servants of God with such uncouth manners?"

Hearing the question, Issei just grinned maniacally while unfolding his dragon wings, Flame of Phantasm licking his frame.

"Glad you ask. My name is Hyoudou-Dubh Issei. The Phantasm Dragon Emperor."

* * *

 _So, how is that for the season premier? Anyway, for this closing author note, I'm gonna address some thing that I just can't find the right timing to slip into the chapter._

 _Firstly, Ana's alias. If you guys pay any attention, Ana introduced herself as "Valiana L. Cifer" back during the prologue. The reason for this is simple, humans tend to think too much and often won't just accept something that might be too obvious for them, hence the "L. Cifer". But as my friend pointed out, what worked for a 7 years old might not work for high school student, hence Ana changed her alias into just "Valiana Cifer". Subtler, but still obvious enough that people will think it mustn't be that simple. And for additional reason, the "L." middle name can also be read as "Livan", Rizevim's middle name, and thus brings up too many trauma for our Princess._

 _And lastly, Issei's outburst. I will say right now that I don't have any dislike whatsoever to Catholic or any other religions, Abrahamic or not, and so the reason for the outburst is purely personal for Issei's character. What pissed Issei so much is the fact that the Church never really changed from the one that excommunicated Asia all those years ago in all of their self-righteousness, and also that Xenovia and Irina, if you still haven't gotten who the Church members are, basically threatened to kill his little sister and beautify it as sin absolution. By now I guess it's obvious Issei will give them the Riser treatment, though whether or not they will survive like Riser is up to them. Huh? Who is the third member? Just wait until the next chapter. It will be spoiler if I tell it now._

 _Anyway, that's it for this closing author note. If you have any questions, feel free to ask either via review or PM, and I will try to answer them as best as I can if they don't contain spoilers.  
_

 _May We Meet Again._


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